*Country music singer Morgan Wallen reportedly hasn’t donated much of the $500K he pledged for using the N-word and later claiming he didn’t know the slur was offensive to Black people.
During an appearance on Good Morning America in July, Wallen addressed the controversy and pledged $500,000 to Black organizations and activism groups.
“Before this incident, my album was already doing well. It was already being well-received by critics and by fans. Me and my team noticed that whenever this whole incident happened that there was a spike in my sales. So we tried to calculate what the number of–how much it actually spiked from this incident,” Wallen said at the time, as reported by Complex. “We got to a number somewhere around $500,000, and we decided to donate that money to some organizations—BMAC [the Black Music Action Coalition] being the first one.”
READ MORE: NAACP Nashville Says Country Singer Morgan Wallen Has Not Met With Them Following N-Word Controversy
We previously reported that Wallen also turned his back on the NAACP after the organization offered to meet with him to discuss why the N-word is offensive. The Nashville branch of the NAACP wanted to educate the disgraced artist on racism and race relations after he was caught on camera using the N-word.
Back in February, TMZ posted footage of Wallen referring to one of his friends as a “p**sy ass n**ga.” After the clip went viral, Wallen sent a statement to the outlet issuing an apology, noting that he’s “embarrassed and sorry,” and that there are “no excuses” for the language he used. He also promised to do better moving forward.
The Nashville branch of the NAACP believes this nearly 30-year-old white male is ignorant about good ole fashion American racism and the history of the N-word, so they want to sit down with him and educate him.
As noted by Complex, “after both Wallen’s team and NAACP Nashville agreed to a meeting, there has been little effort on the part of the former to actually make it happen,” the outlet writes.
“Even when you look at the other words that were spoken, that one has a certain venom to it that the words just don’t have,” attorney and Nashville NAACP president Sheryl Guinn previously told WSMV-TV. “Because he was such a prominent celebrity and an artist here in Nashville, I mean he’s living here, we would love for him to have that conversation with us.”
“We invite him to come and have that conversation with us, the NAACP, as to why that word is so hurtful,” Guinn continued.
Shortly after the video surfaced, Wallen was dropped by his record label and SiriusXM. CMT — Country Music Television — announced that all appearances and performances of Morgan would be removed from their platform. iHeartRadio also pulled the plug on airing his music in wake of him using the racial slur.
Rolling Stone reports that BMAC has received some money from Wallen.
“While we are appreciative of the money, which has been used to make grants directly to Black musicians through our COVID Emergency Relief Fund, we remain disappointed that Morgan has not used his platform to support any anti-racism endeavors,” said the group in a statement. The $500,000 figure that Wallen cited “seems exceptionally misleading,” BMAC added. In total, Wallen donated $165,000 to them.
Complex writes, “56 other Black-led or Black-founded charities across the country have yet to report receiving any money from Wallen.”
