Country music singer Morgan Wallen spoke publicly for the first time since 2021 about the racism scandal that nearly derailed his career.
Wallen, 30, has enjoyed widespread success, with sold-out tours and a string of hit songs after his appearance on the sixth season of "The Voice."
That nearly crumbled in February 2021, when a neighbor gave TMZ video footage of Wallen using a racial slur after a night out drinking.
Wallen issued an apology but the reaction was swift. Radio pulled his songs, he was suspended by his own record label, dropped by his booking agency and disqualified from award events.
That did not stop the success of his album, "Dangerous." Within days, sales surged and Wallen hit the Billboard charts, remaining there for several weeks. Further, his song, "If I Know Me," entered the top 10.
Nearly three years later, Wallen has addressed the ordeal in an interview with Billboard.
"There's no excuse. I've never made an excuse. I never will make an excuse," Wallen said of the racial slur. "I've talked to a lot of people, heard stories [about] things that I would have never thought about because I wasn't the one going through it.
"And I think, for me, in my heart I was never that guy that people were portraying me to be, so there was a little bit of like, Damn, I'm kind of actually mad about this a little bit because I know I shouldn't have said this, but I'm really not that guy.
"I put myself in just such a s*** spot, you know?" he continued. "Like, You really messed up here, guy. If I was that guy, then I wouldn't have cared. I wouldn't have apologized. I wouldn't have done any of that if I really was that guy that people were saying about me."
After the video circulated, Wallen engaged in discussions with Black leaders, including Elektra Entertainment Chairman and CEO Kevin Liles and Grammy-winning gospel artist BeBe Winans, aiming to educate himself.
He also reached out to the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) and other organizations to learn and improve. Wallen shared with Billboard that he underwent a 30-day rehabilitation program in San Diego after the incident.
The experience in 2021, Wallen said, showed him "just how much that people listen to me" adding that he's learned how much his words matter.
"That person is definitely not the same person I am now," he said.