Morgan Wallen won’t be attending a Friday, May 3, court date regarding his arrest for allegedly throwing a chair from the roof of a Nashville bar.
“The court has formally waived Morgan Wallen’s appearance on Friday, May 3 as his presence is not required to advance the case,” Wallen’s lawyer, Worrick Robinson, said in a statement to Us Weekly on Thursday, May 2. “The Office of the District Attorney has been notified of the Appearance Waiver.” Robinson will be attending the hearing on Wallen’s behalf.
The country singer, 30, was arrested on April 7 and charged with three felony counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct after allegedly throwing a chair from the rooftop of Eric Church’s Chief’s bar in downtown Nashville. Police officers were standing outside of the bar when a chair fell from above them and landed on the ground close to their position, the Metro Nashville Police Department confirmed to Us at the time. Employees at the bar claimed that Wallen tossed the chair from six stories high, according to News Channel 5 Nashville.
The arrest report stated that authorities later watched a video that showed Wallen “lunging and throwing an object over the roof,” but he ultimately laughed it off. After he was taken into custody, his bond was set at $15,250.
“At 10:53 p.m. Sunday evening Morgan Wallen was arrested in downtown Nashville for reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct,” Robinson told Us in a statement at the time. “He is cooperating fully with authorities.”
Wallen issued a statement about the incident via X on April 19, writing, “I didn’t feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks. I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I’m not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility.”
He added: “I have the utmost respect for the officers working every day to keep us all safe. Regarding my tour, there will be no change.”
The incident is not Wallen’s first scandal. In May 2020, he was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct outside of Kid Rock’s Nashville bar, Big Honky Tonk. He was later cleared of the charges.
Wallen subsequently incited controversy in February 2021 when a video of him using the N-word surfaced. Amid backlash, his recording contract was temporarily suspended, his music was pulled from radio stations and streaming services and he was banned from awards shows.
“I’m embarrassed and sorry. I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back,” Wallen said in a statement at the time. “There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.”
Wallen’s career ultimately rebounded, but he faced another setback in May 2023 when he was forced to cancel six weeks of his One Night at a Time tour due to vocal fold trauma. “[Doctors] told me that if I do this the right way, I’ll get back to 100 percent, and they also said that if I don’t listen and I keep singing, then I’ll permanently damage my voice,” he explained via Instagram. “So for the longevity of my career, this is just a choice I had to make.”
The following month, doctors cleared Wallen to sing and talk again after an extended period of vocal rest, and he resumed his tour.
