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Nashville Council penalizes Morgan Wallen because it dislikes him and his speech

By Andrea Widburg

for leftists, the Constitution, federal and local laws, and local regulations are all irrelevant. They are interested in the process because it adds an air of legitimacy to otherwise illegitimate proceedings, but they care nothing for substantive principles of justice, morality, and good governance.

Three years ago, country music star Morgan Wallen used a racially loaded word. Naturally, he issued a groveling apology, but that’s never enough for the left. As far as the Nashville Council is concerned, he must pay forever, even if it means throwing the First Amendment to the wind.

In 2021, TMZ released a video showing Wallen and his friends, clearly drunk, returning from a night of partying. Referring to one of his black friends, Wallen instructed that friend’s wife/girlfriend, “Hey, hey, Grace. Take care of this p**** a** n*****.”

The tone and context make clear that Wallen was using that vulgar phrase affectionately. After all, Wallen, born in 1993, grew up in a world in which blacks also use such language in affectionate terms when speaking of each other.

Nevertheless, when it comes to that toxic “N” word, sauce for the black goose is not sauce for the white gander. Wallen was instantly excoriated as an arch-racist and even received “counseling” from 20 different people. Wallen naturally apologized, as well as paying $500,000 in shakedown money to the Black Music Action Coalition and other “black-serving organizations” in honor of those same 20 people.

CMT, the country music channel, which also hosts the Country Music Awards, banned Wallen in 2021, while the Academy of Country Music made his album ineligible for an award, and he was removed from country music playlists. His record label (Big Loud, a subdivision of Republic Records) suspended his contract. Wallen was de-personed in the country music world.

(For those who think the country music industry is conservative because its fans are, disabuse yourself of that notion. The big money behind it is all-in on woke, Democrat-party principles. The most recent example was when CMT refused to play Jason Aldean’s “Try That In A Small Town,” a song that said that small towns wouldn’t stand for the lawlessness in America’s big cities. The song was about riots, not race, but the suits at CMT said “racist” and hung the song out to dry.)

While the country music industry promptly imposed all sorts of penalties on Wallen, his fans continued to like him. Indeed, in the weeks following TMZ’s exposé, his sales actually improved. I don’t interpret that to mean that racists fell in line to support him. Instead, Americans were opposing the new racial inquisition that destroys anyone who fails to bow before the DEI gods.

It didn’t hurt that Wallen also refused to bow down before the COVID rules, something for which the left also punished him. Indeed, given that his COVID infractions were in October 2020, that goes a long way to explain the TMZ hit job in February 2021. The timing was not coincidental.

The important thing to understand at this point is that, for the left, Morgan Wallen is toxic: He resisted COVID mandates, and he used the word of power that only blacks are allowed to use. The fact that he apologized in word and cash for the latter infraction is irrelevant. He is a sinner, and the left has no room for remorse and redemption. Instead, he will forever stand as a symbol of the horrors visited upon someone who dares to oppose the woke rules within the entertainment industry.

This all gets us to Nashville, Tennessee, which is an industry town, with country music being the industry. While Tennessee is a conservative state, Nashville is not a conservative city. In 2020, it gave almost 65% of its votes to Joe Biden. Its mayor is a Democrat, and its governing council not only has a Democrat majority but is led by a Democrat Muslim woman from Nigeria.

That goes a long way to explaining what the Nashville council did to Wallen: It refused to allow him to hang a bright sign in front of his new bar. What makes this refusal fascinating is that the council did not cite regulatory failures as the reason for banning his request because there were no regulatory failures. Instead, the council did so purely because its members dislike Wallen’s speech:

Nashville councilmembers have rejected plans for a glowing sign to be erected at Morgan Wallen’s new bar along the city’s neon-lit strip of honky tonks, citing his use of a racial slur that caused controversy in 2021 and recent criminal charges accusing the country star of throwing a chair off a rooftop near two police officers.

[snip]

During debate, councilmembers called Wallen’s comments hateful and his actions harmful. They also said the performer has received multiple second chances.

“I don’t want to see a billboard up with the name of a person who is throwing chairs off of balconies and who is saying racial slurs,” said Councilmember Delishia Porterfield, who is Black.

Nashville’s sign permit process does not allow viewpoint discrimination—which is unsurprising because the Constitution also doesn’t allow viewpoint discrimination. But of course, for leftists, the Constitution, federal and local laws, and local regulations are all irrelevant. They are interested in the process because it adds an air of legitimacy to otherwise illegitimate proceedings, but they care nothing for substantive principles of justice, morality, and good governance.

I sincerely hope that Wallen appeals this ruling and takes it all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. The Democrat party’s disdain for the Constitution and the rule of law cannot be allowed to stand.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/nashville_council_penalizes_morgan_wallen_because_it_dislikes_him_and_his_speech.html