The Country Music Association revealed final nominees for its 55th Annual CMA Awards Thursday morning, and with it came Morgan Wallen’s first Country award nomination of the year.
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Wallen’s Album of the Year nomination for Dangerous: The Double Album arrives seven months after a video surfaced of him using a racial slur earlier this year. As a result of his actions, captured by a Nashville-area neighbor, Wallen was dropped by his label and talent agency, who have since picked him back up. His music was also dropped from several major radio stations for months, while he also lost eligibility at multiple award shows.
As of now, the CMA has deemed Wallen ineligible for categories where he is the sole nominee, like Male Vocalist, but has approved his eligibility to compete in categories that honor him alongside collaborators.
The news of a CMA Award nomination is big for Wallen, who has slowly been working his way back into the spotlight since the viral video. In July, Wallen gave his first public interview since the events as he sat down with Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan for a revealing interview.
During the conversation, the 28-year-old opened up about details surrounding the night the video was captured, consequences he’s suffered as a result, the steps he’s taken to educate himself on the topic of racism and the experience he had checking himself into rehab.
“I went and checked myself into rehab,” Wallen said during the interview. “For 30 days, I spent some time out in San Diego, California -- you know, just tryin' to figure it out ... why am I acting this way? Do I have an alcohol problem? Do I have a deeper issue?"
As Wallen’s world was crumbling, the success of his album, Dangerous: The Double Album, released only weeks before the incident, was doing the exact opposite. Immediately following the incident, downloads for the project went up 500% and the album is currently the highest selling and streaming album across all genres in the U.S. this year.
Regardless of the album’s continued success, Wallen asked fans not to defend his actions as he started to put in some work, taking time to speak with Black organizations in an effort to educate himself more surrounding issues of racism and the history of the "n word."
Joining Morgan in the CMA Album of the Year category are Carly Pearce (29), Eric Church (Heart), Brothers Osborne (Skeletons) and Chris Stapleton (Starting Over).
The winner will be chosen by CMA members, and revealed during the show’s live broadcast , airing via ABC on November 10 at 8PM ET / 7PM CT.
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