Country singer Morgan Wallen was jailed on Sunday night on felony charges that he threw a chair off the sixth-story roof of a popular bar in Nashville.
Billboard confirmed the arrest for reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct via a statement from the singer’s attorney on Monday. The record-breaking country musician was “fully cooperating with authorities”, and had been released from jail pending the resolution of the case, said Wallen’s attorney, Worrick Robinson.
According to local news outlet WSMV, the arrest warrant alleged that multiple witnesses saw Wallen pick up a chair and throw it off the sixth-story roof of Chief’s Bar, a new establishment on Nashville’s bustling Broadway street owned by fellow country singer Eric Church, at about 10.45pm on Sunday. The chair landed about 3ft from two metro Nashville police department officers standing on the street below.
Officers reportedly spoke with witnesses who said Wallen threw the chair and laughed afterward. They reviewed security footage before the arrest, which took place during the opening weekend of Church’s bar.
Wallen was charged with three counts of felony reckless endangerment and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. He posted a $15,250 bond to secure his release from custody at about 3.30am.
He is tentatively scheduled to appear in court in connection with the arrest on 3 May, in between performances at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium on 2 and 3 May.
The 30-year-old star has been on his sold-out One Night at a Time tour, one of the most anticipated of the year after his March 2023 album notched millions upon millions of streams and the longest consecutive streak atop the Billboard 200 since the Titanic soundtrack in 1998. The past few years have marked a crossover return for Wallen after a 2021 incident in which he was caught using the N-word during, as he called it, “hour 72 of a 72-hour bender”.
The video led to a suspension by his record label Big Loud Records, among other temporary fallouts.
Wallen apologized in an interview for Good Morning America and checked into rehab for what he described as “deeper issues”. He returned to the 2022 Billboard Music Awards after a temporary ban without mention of the incident and has since collected several major awards, including the Academy of Country Music award for male artist of the year.
Wallen launched the 2024 leg of his One Night at a Time tour, which was partially delayed last year due to “vocal fold trauma”, on 4 April in Indianapolis. The tour plans to head to major North American cities, including New York and Denver, throughout the spring and summer and wrap on 9 August in Las Vegas.
