Billboard Music Awards bans Morgan Wallen after racist misconduct

The prestigious Billboard Music Awards on Thursday (local time) announced that American pop star Morgan Wallen has received six BBMA nominations based on sales and airplay, but he will not appear on the broadcast, as his 'conduct does not align with production's values'.

The country star's use of a racial slur has got him banned from appearing at one of the music's biggest awards shows.

According to People Magazine, after revealing selected nominees for the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, the production announced that Wallen who has been nominated in six categories, as determined purely by Billboard chart placements and not a voting committee will not participate "in any capacity," meaning "performing, presenting, and accepting," of the accolade he would win during the May 23 show.

"Morgan Wallen is a finalist this year based on charting. As his recent conduct does not align with our core values," reads a statement released Thursday by Dick Clark Productions and MRC, the company that tracks song and album performance data for Billboard chart rankings and the BBMA nominations.

"It is heartening and encouraging to hear that Morgan is taking steps in his anti-racist journey and starting to do some meaningful work. We plan to evaluate his progress and will consider his participation in future shows," the statement continued.

Earlier in April, Wallen penned a moving note explaining that he has been working on himself during his time away from the spotlight. He also shared that he will not be playing any concerts or festivals this summer.

"I let so many people down," the 27-year-old said in an apology post shortly after the scandal. "I let my parents down and they're the furthest thing from the person in that video. I let my son down, and I'm not okay with that."

He also indicated that he'd spoken with Black-led organizations, and was committed to working with them on educating himself on racist behavior. He further posted a letter (above) to his fans addressing the controversy on April 13.

"That kindness really inspired me to dig deeper on how to do something about this. And one thing I've learned already [and] I'm specifically sorry for is that it matters," he said in the video.

In February, Wallen and his friends were captured on video arriving at his house after a night out, and Wallen used the N-word to describe one of his companions.

After the video of using the racial slur surfaced, Wallen was indefinitely suspended from his label and his songs were taken down from the two largest radio station groups iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media, along with SiriusXM, Pandora, and CMT.

Even after the controversy, People Magazine reported that Wallen's recent releases including his Dangerous album continued to perform well on song sales charts.

On a related note, the 2021 Billboard Music Awards air May 23 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

( With inputs from ANI )