Morgan Wallen Says ‘I Will Never Make an Excuse’ for Using Racial Slur, but ‘I’m Really Not That Guy’

Morgan Wallen joins Drake for dinner in Drake’s new video for ‘You Broke My Heart’, off the ‘Scary Hours Edition’ of his 2023 album, ‘For All The Dogs’.The six-minute video begins in a restaurant, where Wallen and Drake share a table over dinner, celebrating Wallen’s breakup with an unnamed girl. “I didn’t like her,” Wallen admits.

George Strait, Willie Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Garth Brooks as well as up and coming icons like Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, Luke Combs and Tyler Childers.Plus, if you ask us, any year that promises Southern Fried rockers Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell and Nathaniel Rateliff on tour will surely be a good time.Alright, no more line dancing around it.Here are the 50 biggest country concert tours that just might be coming to a city near you in 2024.Feat. Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town.Runs May 4 through Dec. 7.Feat. Zac Brown Band, Megan Moroney and Uncle Kracker on select dates.Runs April 20 through Aug. 25.Runs Feb. 7 through May 11. Feat. Carly PearceRuns Feb. 3 through June 29.Feat. Whiskey Myers, Neal McCoy, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Charley Crockett, Marty Stuart and Old Crow Medicine Show on select dates.Runs April 5 through Sept. 14.Runs April 26 through June 29.Feat. Dustin Lynch and Emily Ann Roberts.Runs Feb. 22 through May 4.Runs Feb. 7 through May 10.Runs Jan. 18 through Feb. 3.Runs Jan. 31 through June 26.Runs Jan. 15 through Feb. 27.Runs Jan. 5 through March 2.Runs Jan. 19 through March 21.Runs March 1 through July 20.Feat. Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, Bailey Zimmerman, Jon Pardi, Nate Smith, Bryan Martin, Lauren Watkins and Ella Langley on select dates.Runs April 4 through Aug. 9.Feat. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Sheryl Crow, Sierra Ferrell, the Middle East, Matt Maeson and Levi Turner on select dates.Runs Feb. 9 through Dec. 19.Feat. The Avett Brothers, Cody Jinks, Charles Wesley Godwin, Hailey Whitters, The Wilder Blue, Jordan Davis, Mitchell Tenpenny, Drew Parker and Colby Acuff.Runs April 12 through Aug. 16.Feat. S.G. Goodman, Wynonna, Shovels & Rope, Allison Russell and Sylvan Esso on select dates.Ru

Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer Drake and Morgan Wallen get their just due from a pair of vindictive exes in the video for “You Broke My Heart,” the latest single off of the former’s “For All the Dogs Scary Hours Edition.” In the Theo Skudra-directed clip, the pair cheers to leaving behind a cursed relationship while sitting at a restaurant. “I didn’t like her.

Strictly Come Dancing winner Ellie Leach has declared her love for her co-star as she spoke to her fans and followers for the first time since winning the show. The Bury-born actress lifted the Glitterball trophy on Saturday night (December 16) alongside professional dance partner Vito Coppola.

Taylor Swift, the Rolling Stones, Drake with J. Cole, Olivia Rodrigo and Billy Joel’s final MSG concerts.Whoops, we forgot to mention Zach Bryan, Green Day, Noah Kahan, Adele and The Eagles’ farewell tour.Don’t sleep on Bruce Springsteen, either.Or Phish and Wu-Tang Clan’s first ever Las Vegas residencies.And we’re just getting started. We’ve got 39 more huge names at the ready for you, below.Alright, no more need to beat around the bush.

Strictly Come Dancing fans celebrated after a former star reunited with her Strictly dance partner at last night's final. While many were excited by the reunion, some fans also issued a complaint.

Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood has admitted that he didn't think that Bad Education star, Layton Williams, would end up in this year's final.The 58 year old, who has been a judge on the show since its inception back in 2004, revealed the reason he thought Layton wouldn't go all the way was because of his background in professional dancing and performance. Rather, he thought Layton's West End stints may have hindered him, rather than helped him.To recap, before landing a place on Strictly, Layton was known for his slew of musical theatre roles, having bagged lead parts in Billy Elliot the Musical, Thriller - Live, Hairspray the Musical, Rent, and most recently, Everybody's Talking About Jamie.

Thania Garcia It’s the end of the year and Vevo has crunched the numbers to find out which music videos and artists saw the highest viewership on the platform. After releasing multiple albums, touring the world with record-breaking numbers and launching a concert film, Taylor Swift was named Vevo’s “Most Watched Artist” in the United States with nearly 650 million views in 2023. According to the music video network, during the “Eras Tour,” Swifties across the country tuned in to view Swift’s content on Vevo — this includes videos for “All Too Well: The Short Film” (+333% lift in U.S.

Thania Garcia South Korean boy band Ateez has the No. 1 album in the United States this week, landing its first No. 1 record with their sophomore set “The World EP.Fin: Will.” The 12-song set had the equivalent of 152,000 sales, according to data provided by Luminate, and serves as the follow-up to the eight-member group’s June EP “The World EP.2: Outlaw.” Preceded by the streaming hit “Crazy Form,” which boasts elements of Afro dancehall, “The World EP.2: Outlaw” was released via Sony Music Korea/RCA Records and is the fifth K-pop record to lead the Billboard 200 this year behind releases from Tomorrow X Together, NewJeans and Stray Kids.

Ricky Gervais has faced criticism after using an ableist slur in his Netflix special, Armageddon.In the upcoming special, which has been previewed through various clips on social media, the comedian jokes about making videos for terminally ill children for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.“I always start the video the same way, I go, ‘why didn’t you wish to get better?’ Gervais jokes in the clip. “What, you fucking ret***ed* as well?”Shortly afterwards, Gervais states that he doesn’t “use that word in real life”, defending his use of the word as “playing a role” for comedy purposes.After the video was posted on YouTube last week, disability equality charity Scope spoke out against the special in a statement on X.“Language like this has consequences,” they wrote.

Morgan Wallen — who has ruled the country and pop charts this year — is offering “no excuse” for the racial-slur scandal that threatened to get him canceled in 2021.“There’s no excuse. I’ve never made an excuse.

Morgan Wallen is taking accountability for misdeeds in his past.

Sorry, folks. Natalie Portman doesn’t plan on ever going topless in a movie.

As Democrats look to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year, one of the candidates that may help them do that is a gay former federal prosecutor. That candidate, 38-year-old Will Rollins, is again running against Republican incumbent Ken Calvert in California’s 41st Congressional District in Riverside County. Rollins narrowly lost to Calvert in 2022. Photo: Will Rollins for Congress

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Country music hasn’t had a huge presence in the mainstream top 10 since Florida Georgia Line provided a couple of big crossover blips in 2014 and 2017 with “Cruise” and “Meant to Be.” But that changed in triplicate in 2023 with three Nashville exports— the well-established Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs, plus a blazing-hot newcomer, Zimmerman. His first three singles all hit No.

Mike Wass Since founding Nonstop Management at her kitchen table in 2017, Jaime Zeluck Hindlin’s boutique management company for songwriters and producers has become a stealthy power player in the music business. Getting the right people in a room is Hindlin’s specialty, but her range of clients contributing to three songs from the Hitmakers 2023 Top 25 is nothing short of remarkable: Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” and Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down (Remix).” “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that something like this would happen,” Hindlin says of Nonstop’s blockbuster 2023. “Obviously, you hope for one big hit.

Charlie Amter Few artists ever have had a year on the scale of Morgan Wallen’s 2023. The crossover country star broke multiple streaming and radio records — such as having his smash “Last Night” become the longest-running solo No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 history, with 16 weeks atop the chart — all while picking up the millions of new fans that helped sell out shows nationwide.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Who should be counted as country music’s currently most successful songwriter? You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who could come up with a metric where the end result is not clearly Ashley Gorley, who’s being honored as Songwriter of the Year at Variety‘s annual Hitmakers event. He has been a co-writer on five of the last six Morgan Wallen singles, all of which inevitably topped the country chart — with “Last Night” also going top 5 at pop radio, no small factor in the song spending a near-record 16 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith are in it for the long haul.

Jordan Moreau Variety has announced additional honorees for its annual Hitmakers Event on Dec. 2 in Los Angeles. Sabrina Carpenter will receive the Rising Star Award presented by H&M, celebrating her transformative year as a music artist.