John Rich’s Morgan Wallen Message Goes Viral

John Rich sent a message of support to his younger country music counterpart, Morgan Wallen, after he was arrested in Nashville.

Rich, 50, went viral with a post on X, formerly Twitter, where he likened himself to Wallen at the start of his career.

Wallen was arrested on Sunday evening after allegedly throwing a chair off the sixth-story balcony of country music star Eric Church’s new establishment, Chief’s Bar.

The chair landed just feet from Metro Nashville police officers who proceeded to arrest the singer and described his actions as “lunging and throwing an object over the roof,” in the arrest report.

Wallen, who is no stranger to controversy, was taken to the Downtown Detention center in Nashville and released a few hours later with charges of three counts of reckless endangerment, danger to the public and disorderly conduct. His bond was set to $15,250.

Rich received almost 646,000 views on his post where he described how he had been “destructive” in the early days of his career.

“Reading about Morgan Wallen this morning, and I can’t help but recall all the destructive, crazy things I did early on in my career,” he wrote on X on Monday.

“The combo of intense pressure, expectations and over the top success is a dangerous cocktail. Thank God I had great mentors who helped guide me out of that mindset, and I hope Morgan has some people around him who care about him enough to help him find a new approach to life.”

Rich added: “It takes a lifetime to build what he’s built, and one second to destroy it all. I’m rooting for him to turn it around.”

People responded to Rich’s post, including @solon_woodall, who wrote: “Fame makes some insane. Something is going on in his life. Surrounded by ‘yes friends ‘ don’t help.” Rich replied to that person, agreeing: “It can be toxic.”

Another person, @KYLadyCheryl, added: “You’re a good man, John Rich. I hope Morgan Wallen can find a few good people with character such as yours to help him find his way.”

Wallen’s attorney, Worrick Robinson, confirmed Wallen’s arrest and release from custody to Newsweek.

“At 10:53 p.m. Sunday evening Morgan Wallen was arrested in downtown Nashville for reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. He is cooperating fully with authorities,” Robinson said via email on Monday.

“I can confirm that Morgan bonded out at approximately 3:30 am, and he has an initial appearance court date on May 3.”

Wallen rose to fame when he competed on The Voice in 2014, and even though he didn’t make it to the final, was signed to Big Loud Records the following year.

He quickly rose up in the ranks of the country music world and achieved crossover fame in the mainstream, including collaborating with rapper Drake and having the best selling single of 2023 with the song “Last Night,” according to the Billboard charts.

Wallen’s meteoric career has been littered with controversies including in 2021 when his songs were dropped from radio play after a video of him using a racial slur was leaked to media.

Along with the temporary radio ban, Wallen was also suspended from his own record label and removed from awards shows over the incident.

He issued an apology on his Instagram where he told followers he would be meeting with “some amazing Black organizations and executives and leaders to engage in some very real and honest conversations.”

“I let so many people down,” Wallen said in the video. “I’m the furthest thing from the person in that video.”