Yahoo Finance Morgan Wallen makes surprise concert appearance at Luke Bryan's show in Nashville
At Luke Bryan's Friday concert in Nashville, country star Morgan Wallen made his first major concert appearance since being filmed using a racial slur in February.
Wallen joined Bryan, Jason Aldean and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line during the show's acoustic portion. The 28-year-old sang his "Whiskey Glasses" and "More Than My Hometown," and stayed onstage for Aldean's "She's Country."
Wallen’s performance also appeared to come as a surprise to Bryan.
“A really good friend of mine is here backstage tonight,” Aldean told him onstage. “I don’t know if you know this.”
“Do I need another tequila shot to get through this?” Bryan asked.
The sold-out crowd cheered for a full minute as Wallen came down the catwalk, gave high fives to fans and handed shot glasses to Bryan, Hubbard and Aldean.
“Only in Nashville,” Aldean said.
“This is a song about staying true to yourself,” Wallen said before playing “Hometown.”
“And that’s been a really hard thing for me to do lately, but here I am.”
More: Morgan Wallen used a racist slur but his popularity is skyrocketing. How did we get here?
On Feb. 2, TMZ posted a video taken by one of Wallen's neighbors in front of the singer's Nashville home. In it, Wallen is heard telling someone to "take care of this... (slur)," while being dropped off.
The incident resulted in his removal from radio rotation, awards show ballots and streaming playlists, and ignited conversations on diversity and inclusion in the country music industry.
Wallen bowed out of all concerts in the wake of the incident — in fact, he was originally booked to join Bryan on his summer tour, including Friday’s concert. But the singer has been steadily returning to the public eye in recent months.
On July 23, he gave his first interview since the incident to "Good Morning America," and said he "was just ignorant" about his use of the slur.
Morgan Wallen surprise appearance at Luke Bryan concert
not my mom getting to see Morgan Wallen, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and Florida Georgia Line in concert all at one time tonight… without me. 🥺✋🏼 pic.twitter.com/kpv9cfbkpn
— kaitlyn scelzi (@kaitlynscelzii) July 31, 2021
I’ll take Morgan Wallen, Fl Ga Line and Jason Andean as well pic.twitter.com/ki7WBKDsqO
— nhoffmeister (@nhoffmeister1) July 31, 2021
Didn’t think I’d ever hear Bridgestone Arena as loud as Game 6 vs. Anaheim or the Cup final vs. Pittsburgh in 2017.
It happened tonight as Luke Bryan welcomed our Morgan Wallen following Jason Alden and FGL as surprise guests on stage.— Ryan Porth (@PorthGame) July 31, 2021
Morgan Wallen: Morgan Wallen is back in the public eye, but not all paths are open for singer after slur
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Morgan Wallen makes surprise appearance at Luke Bryan concert
