Morgan Wallen’s Label CEO Calls Rumors Around Mississippi Concert Cancellation ‘Nowhere Close to True’
Written by djfrosty on April 25, 2023
On Sunday, Morgan Wallen canceled his headlining show at Oxford, Miss.’s Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, moments before he was to take the stage as part of his One Thing at a Time Tour, enraging many of the approximately 60,000 fans who had already packed the stadium, and leading to rumors regarding the reason behind the cancellation.
After openers HARDY, Ernest and Bailey Zimmerman performed, a message appeared on screens flanking either side of the stadium stage, stating, “Ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately Morgan has lost his voice and is unable to perform tonight. Therefore, tonight’s show has been canceled. Please make your way safely to the stadium exits. Refunds for tonight’s event will be available at point of purchase beginning tomorrow.”
Though a statement to the crowd noted that the last-minute cancellation was due to Wallen losing his voice, a TikTok video of a security guard at Vaught Hemingway Stadium, which suggested the real reason for the last-minute cancellation was that Wallen had been too drunk to perform, only added fuel to the rumors.
Posted Monday by TikTok user @thunderb4lightnin, the video went viral, earning 3.4 million views as of press time. In the video, the security guard comments that Wallen losing his voice is “bull crap” and agrees when asked by the attendee if Wallen didn’t perform because he was too drunk. The guard also claimed that Wallen was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
On Tuesday (April 25), Big Loud CEO Seth England responded in an attempt to shut down the rumors, sharing a statement from event company Best Crowd Management, which handled security for the concert at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
England shared a social media message from Best Crowd Management, which read, “A hired employee of BEST Crowd Management made false claims as it related to last night’s Morgan Wallen concert and we do not stand behind the detail in his statement. Please refer to Morgan’s social media pages for details.”
England added his own statement, writing, “Thank you @bestcrowdmanagement for correcting your employee, who made up an entire story that was nowhere close to true. Every detail was false. Laughable what some people will just say for a reaction.” He concluded, “Don’t Believe Everything You Read.”
Billboard reached out to Best Crowd Management regarding their social media statement but had not heard back by press time.
Wallen later rescheduled additional shows that had been slated for this week, telling fans on social media, “Y’all know how important my fans are to me, so I feel horrible about this news. There’s nothing more I want to do than be onstage playing for you guys. But as of today, I’m on doctor-ordered vocal rest and we have to reschedule this week’s shows. I appreciate and understand everything you do to get to my shows, so it would be unfair of me to put on a show that I know will not be 100%. I’m doing everything I can to speed up the process of getting to that mark 100%–MW”
This week, Wallen also became the first artist to have three songs in the top 10 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart simultaneously, with “Thought You Should Know” at No. 7, “Last Night” at No. 8 and “One Thing at a Time” at No. 9.