Morgan Wallen Appears to Respond to Nashville City Council Decision to Block ‘This Bar’ Sign

Morgan Wallen has seemingly addressed via his Instagram Story the comments made by Nashville City council-member, Jordan Huffman, following the council's decision to block Morgan's proposal to add a neon sign to his new broadway bar.

The council voted 30 to 3 against the sign, with a number of council-members speaking out to defend the decision. Huffman's speech, however, has become the most widely shared due to the vehemence with which he has criticised Morgan Wallen, arguing, “He gives all of us a bad name. His comments are hateful, his actions are harmful and he don't belong in this town as far as I'm concerned”. One of the incidents Huffman is believed to be referring to is Morgan's chair-throwing incident in April, for which he has received three felony charges.

Shortly after City council news broke, Morgan shared what appears to be a thinly veiled response to the furore, with the ‘Last Night’ chart-topper posting a photo of one of the three sold-out shows he performed at Nashville's Nissan Stadium earlier in May.

This image may touch on what fans have been pointing out, which is the fact that Morgan Wallen is the most popular - and lucrative - country artist today, with his shows and soon his bar bringing in sizeable revenue for the city. Morgan's supporters have been using this to dismiss Huffman's remark that he doesn't ‘belong’ in Nashville.

Others council-members echoed Huffman's sentiments, such as Brenda Gadd, who described Morgan as “someone who continues to get second chances...surely they don’t need any reminder about his racist comments, using the n-word, his pledge to the NAACP for funding and then him never fulfilling that commitment”.

It's worth highlighting that Morgan never pledged to donate any money to the NAACP, and it seems Gadd has conflated Jason Isbell's pledge regarding the proceeds from Morgan's ’Cover Me Up’ cover. Morgan instead announced his intentions to provide $500,000 to Black organisations, and he fulfilled this pledge in 2022, with a $100,000 donation to the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville.

The reaction to the City council's decision has been mixed, with an array of Morgan Wallen's fellow artists expressing their surprise at the decision. ERNEST, in his classic tongue-in-cheek fashion, shared the playful comment, “Vote for ERNEST for mayor. I will fully erect the sign”, while Tyler Booth criticised Huffman and championed Morgan as “the best thing to happen to country music in 30 years”.

Morgan Wallen's This Bar and Tennessee Kitchen will open its doors on Memorial Day Weekend, with the space set to feature three live music stages, an open-air rooftop and more.

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