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Morgan Wallen, WME & What Happens When a “Canceled” Client Still Makes Millions

WME kind-of, sort-of dropped Morgan Wallen after the country music star got caught saying the n-word. Now Wallen’s WME representative is leaving to start his own agency—with Wallen as his marquee client, of course.

Morgan Wallen
Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
November 8, 2021

Have you been following the Morgan Wallen saga at William Morris Endeavor? He’s the country music star who was caught on video in February saying the n-word and was subsequently dropped by WME. Well, kinda dropped; the agency’s chairman Lloyd Braun admitted last week that pandemic-related re-bookings of Wallen shows were indeed being handled by the agency, with commissions going to charity. And then Billboard revealed that Austin Neal, Wallen’s young booking agent in Nashville, was also working on Wallen’s upcoming tour, but was doing so “as a friend,” and outside the walls of WME. Okay…