Entertainment
Maren Morris’ family received death threats after calling Morgan Wallen
Maren Morris
Santiago Felipe/Getty ImagesMaren Morris has opened up about how “scary” things got after she called out fellow musician Morgan Wallen for using racial slurs in 2021.
Morris shared an episode of on Thursday, August 29 Sophia Bush“S”Work in progresspodcast that she and her family, including her son Hayes, 4, received death threats after her criticism of the country singer’s use of the N-word. Hayes, whom she shares with her ex-husband Ryan Hurdwas not yet a year old at the time.
“I mean, the part with the death threat to me as a young mother was obviously scary,” Morris, 34, told host Bush. “And they weren’t death threats against me. It was also against my son. So it’s like, ‘Oh, wow. Now we involve the children, the ones you cared about so much. ”
Footage of 31-year-old Wallen making racist comments during a night out in Nashville went viral in 2021. In response, Morris took aim at Wallen, tweeting: “We all know it wasn’t the first time he used that word. We will keep them rich and protected at all costs, without recourse.”
Morgan Wallen
Jason Kempin/Getty Images for ACMMorris doubled down on her response on the podcast, explaining that she didn’t understand why it sparked so much backlash.
“You think, ‘How can people be so angry about the criticism of cruelty?’” Morris said. “I think it’s because not only are they defending the person who said this, but they’re also taking it personally as if I were criticizing them, which I think says a lot more about their interpretation of criticism – and what that content was. – than me as a person calling someone out with the N-word, or even transphobia which I have criticized in the past.”
Under fire again. Morgan Wallen apologized after saying the N-word during a night out in Nashville. “I am ashamed and sorry,” the 27-year-old country singer said in a statement to TMZ on Tuesday, February 2. “I made an unacceptable and inappropriate racist comment that I would like to take back. There are no excuses […]
She added: “I don’t regret it, I don’t apologize. I feel exactly the same as that day… Don’t be a racist. Don’t be transphobic. Don’t be homophobic.”
Wallen has since apologized for using the slur and released a video statement a week after the images were made public.
“The video you saw was me on hour 72 of 72 of a bender, and I’m not proud of that,” the “Last Night” singer said. “I accepted some invitations from some amazing Black organizations, some executives and leaders, to participate in some very real and honest conversations.”
Stand her ground. Maren Morris is no stranger to receiving online criticism for her appearance, her parenting skills or even her career, but she isn’t letting that get her down. “If it’s confusing to you, it’s because you think we’re ‘fighting’ over politics. We are not. This is not political,” the “Midden” singer tweeted in August 2022, […]
Morris has spoken about the reaction before, to the newspaper New York Times”Popcastpodcast in October 2023 that the experience caused a lot of “pain” in her life.
“I’m not talking about the slur because how would I know what that feels like? I’m white,” she clarified. “For me the consequences are… the death threats. Not only to me, but also to my son. I could never have imagined that it would come to this just because of criticizing racist comments.”
