Maren Morris recently made headlines due to some fiery back-and-forth with Brittany Aldean, wife to country superstar Jason Aldean, over an Instagram reel in which Brittany thanked her parents for not “changing my gender” during her “tomboy phase.”
Maren, along with fellow country singer Cassadee Pope, called the comments out as transphobic, leading to a feud that blew up so much, it even found its way to an episode of Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight.
It wasn’t the first time Maren’s spoken out about hate and discrimination in country music: In early 2021, Maren was among the loudest voices condemning Morgan Wallen’s actions amid his racist slur scandal. But after her feud with Brittany, Maren says she’s seeing Morgan’s actions in a slightly different light.
“I don’t know how I feel about it, honestly,” Maren tells the L.A. Times in a sprawling new interview. “I’ve never hated that guy.”
She also pointed out that Morgan’s reaction to his scandal included a striking difference from the recent uproar surrounding the Aldeans.
“I will say after this Aldean drama, at least Morgan tried to apologize, even if it wasn’t perfect. I have to give him that, because he didn’t have to. He’s not going anywhere,” the singer added.
The Aldeans haven’t incurred anywhere near as many consequences as did Morgan — who was benched by country radio for the better part of 2021 and had his record deal put on hold. Jason’s publicity company of 17 years did, however, part ways with him, though they didn’t specifically mention the transphobia incident as the cause of the split.
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