If I had a nickel for every time Morgan Wallen sparked backlash for throwing or pushing an inanimate object, I’d have three nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened three times.
As I’m sure you know, Morgan is the hugely popular country singer known for hit songs like “Last Night” and “I Had Some Help.” He’s also developed somewhat of a negative reputation for his history of problematic behavior, which includes past use of a racial slur, breaking COVID-19 protocols, multiple arrests, walking off SNL, and, just this month, getting mad and flipping a piano on stage during his show.
Morgan’s piano flip moment sparked some serious uproar, which he brushed off with a rather sarcastic TikTok. As we mentioned, this wasn’t the first time he’d been accused of getting a little too rough with an inanimate object. In 2024, Morgan pleaded guilty to throwing a chair off the rooftop of a six-story bar in Nashville. The chair apparently landed three feet away from two officers standing outside the building. Morgan publicly apologized a week later, saying that he was “not proud” of his actions.
Which brings us to now. Just over a week after the piano-flip debacle, another questionable video of Morgan on stage has hit the internet.
Morgan’s ironically named Still the Problem Tour arrived in Pittsburgh last week, and during his show on June 5, the 33-year-old was filmed snatching a cellphone out of a security guard’s hand mid-performance and forcefully flinging it across the stage at Acrisure Stadium. The security guard had been holding the phone high above her head.
The video was posted by TikTok user @jcroo419, who claimed that his wife had handed her phone to the security guard to get it to Morgan (which has become a trend at live music shows), only for it to be “launched” across the stage by the singer, who was seemingly agitated. “I get it… security should be doing security things, but…,” @jcroo419 wrote in the caption. You can watch the clip here.
The cellphone had seemingly been recording throughout the incident, and the same TikTok user posted a follow-up video on June 7 revealing what seemingly happened next. The second TikTok — which you can find here — shows the moment that the device was located by a member of security and eventually returned to them. “It was videoing for over 9 minutes under the stage where it fell,” @jcroo419 wrote. From what I can see, they did not say whether or not the cellphone was damaged when they got it back.
Now, if we thought the piano backlash was intense, this is something else. Here’s a quick look at the comments under the initial TikTok, which currently has over 1.3 million views.
Taking a more diplomatic view of the situation, people suggested that Morgan likely assumed that the cellphone belonged to the security guard and that they weren’t focusing on their job properly, which is a very fair observation. However, it certainly wasn’t an excuse to throw the phone and risk injuring someone.
As it stands, Morgan has not directly addressed the incident. However, over the weekend, he posted a video on his Instagram Story responding to backlash over the cancelation of his June 6 Pittsburgh show due to severe weather concerns. In that video, he also spoke out about the “nonsense” about him that had been circulating online.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of nonsense about me that is simply not true,” he said, explaining that he wanted to “clear the air.” “I think my true fans know that that’s not how I operate in general, but I had to say it. Y’all, take care.”
Well, make of that what you will. We’ve reached out to Morgan’s team for comment.
