Billboard Music Awards Books Morgan Wallen as a Musical Guest

Morgan Wallen’s rehabilitation is complete, as he is invited to perform on the 2022 Billboard Music  Awards. It’s The Voice alum and Country music star’s first performance at a major awards show since a video surfaced of him in February 2021 using a racial slur.

Billboard has jumped right on explaining why their annual awards show will be the first to invite Morgan back into live Awards show stages again.

MRC Live & Alternative, a division of MRC that produces the BBMAs and several other awards shows, said the decision to book Morgan followed “extensive internal discussions by a dedicated group of diverse staffers at MRC.”

“We oppose discrimination, harassment, or racism of any kind,” MRC said in a statement to Billboard. “We believe in treating everyone with dignity and respect. After a thorough review and robust discussions internally and with the artist’s team, in which we found a demonstrated and ongoing commitment to meaningful work and outreach, we extended an invitation to participate in this year’s show.”

Billboard describes an internal MRC memo that states how producers debated inviting Morgan to the 2021 BBMAs, and decided against it. But ongoing discussions between MRC people and Morgan’s team over the last several months led to the decision to allow Morgan back into the fold. A team of MRC staffers cited the singer’s “commitment to bettering himself and expanding his perspective” as a deciding factor. The team concluded “the incident was not part of a consistent pattern of behavior” for Morgan.

Morgan Wallen makes his way back to concert and TV stages

After Morgan was caught on tape drunkenly yelling the N-word, he was barred from attending or accepting awards. But slowly, award shows are allowing him back. He recently accepted an Album of the Year award at the ACM awards, to rousing applause. While he stopped touring after the incident, Morgan is back to headlining concerts, helped by making surprise appearances on other headlining shows from stars like Luke Bryan.

Along with Morgan, Florence + the Machine, Maxwell and Silk Sonic were announced as 2022 Billboard Music Awards performers.

The 2022 Billboard Music Awards will be hosted by music mogul Sean “DIDDY” Combs. The evening will honor the year’s top performing artists on the Billboard Charts in 62 categories across all genres of music.

Previously announced performers include: Burna Boy, Latto, Megan Thee Stallion, Rauw Alejandro, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as this year’s Icon Award recipient, Mary J. Blige.

The BBMAs will broadcast live coast-to-coast from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 15 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on NBC and will stream live on Peacock.

About mj santilli 35161 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!