Mission accomplished.
Back in July of 2021, more than five months after his highly-publicized racial slur incident, Morgan Wallen sat down with Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan for his first public interview since.
Morgan walked viewers back through that awful night, confessed that he had entered rehab, met with Black advocacy groups and pledged to donate $500,000 to to a number of Black-led organizations and charities, the first being the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC).
But a few months later, controversy surrounded Morgan Wallen again.
BMAC said they only received $165,000 from Morgan Wallen and called the $500,000 number “exceptionally misleading.”
Rolling Stone published an article titled: “Exceptionally Misleading’: Morgan Wallen Pledged $500K to Black-Led Groups, But the Money Seems Largely M.I.A.”
Other publishers like Vulture, Insider, Complex, PageSix, Consequence, and more ran with the story, but the exceptionally misleading part was probably the reporting of Rolling Stone.
In the article Rolling Stone claimed they reached out to “56 other state, regional and national Black-led or Black-founded charities” and none of them reported receiving any money from Wallen. However, just a few paragraphs down in the very same article, they admit that there is more than “700 Black-founded nonprofits nationwide.”
Not exactly thorough research…
(However, after talking to Big Loud CEO Seth England, they did post an update with more information about the donations).
USA Today responded to the Rolling Stone article (Saving Country Music as well) confirming that Morgan had in fact donated $300,000 to the BMAC in April, with donations in the names of 20 people ($15,000 each) who had counseled him after the February incident. Each person was given the choice to choose a charity of their own, or keep their 15K to BMAC.
Of those 20 individuals, 11 opted to keep the money with BMAC, equaling that $165,000 number they received, with the remaining $135,000 going to various charities of choice including Young People’s Chorus of New York City, Teen Dream Center, Beatrice W. Welters Breast Health Outreach & Navigation Program, and the Right Hand Foundation.
USA Today also confirmed that in May, another $100,000 was donated to Rock Against Racism.
Finally, USA TODAY revealed today (January 27th, 2022) that Morgan Wallen has made good on his full $500,000 pledge with the final $100,000 going to the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville. The donation was made this week.
According to Tuwisha Rogers-Simpson, vice president of brand partnerships for the museum, the money was donated on behalf of the Wallen Foundation:
She also said that she “had the opportunity to tour and share our mission with Morgan as he was eager to learn more in a sincere effort to grow.”
Morgan Wallen is gearing up to launch his 2022 Dangerous Tour, which kicks off on February 3rd in Evansville, Indiana.
He’s also recently made surprise appearances at the Grand Ole Opry, joining Ernest for “Flower Shops” as well as surprising fans during Lil Durk’s set at MLK Freedom Fest for a performance of their hit collab, “Broadway Girls.”