Maren Morris Recalls Death Threats Against Her Son After She Called Out Morgan Wallen For Using Racial Slur

Maren Morris has opened up about an incident in 2021, in which she called out fellow country music star Morgan Wallen for using a racial slur and received dangerous threats against her family as a result.

Morris confronted Wallen for posting a video to Twitter in which he used the N-word. She called the lack of consequences he faced “representative of our town because this isn’t his first ‘scuffle,’ and he just demolished a huge streaming record last month regardless. We all know it wasn’t his first time using that word. We keep them rich and protected at all costs with no recourse.”

In a recent interview on Sophia Bush‘s Work in Progress podcast, Morris explained the repercussions she faced after speaking out, which included death threats to her son, who was one-year-old at the time.

“The death threat portion for me as a young mother was obviously scary – and it wasn’t death threats against me, it was against my son, too,” she said. “So it’s like, ‘Oh, wow, now we’re involving the kids, the ones that you cared so much about.’ It’s incredibly dangerous and scary, and you just open up a whole can of worms of crazy people and pundits that kickbox the hell out of you.”

“When you’re so in the middle of the eye of the hurricane, you’re like, ‘How are people this pissed over the criticism of cruelty,'” Morris continued. “And I think it’s because they’re not only defending the person that said this, but they are taking it personally as if I’m criticizing them, which I think says a lot more about their interpretation of criticism and what the content was than me as a person calling out someone using the N-word.”

Following the incident, Wallen apologized for the video, writing that he appreciated “those who still see something in me and have defended me. But for today, please don’t. I was wrong. I fully accept any penalties I’m facing.”

Even after the backlash, Morris said she would continue to speak out against injustice within the industry.

“I stand by what I said. I don’t regret it. I don’t apologize,” she declared. “I feel the exact same way as I did that day. Would I maybe use the channels of Twitter again? Probably not. There’s probably more dignified way to get my point across, but hey, it is what it is. Don’t be racist. Don’t be transphobic. Don’t be homophobic. All the things, I still stand by that.”

In June, Morris publicly came out as bisexual and has always been known as an advocate for LGBTQ rights.