Country star Mickey Guyton claims that calling out her genre peer Morgan Wallen's use of a racial slur contributed to her early labor in 2021, according to reports.
The Grammy-nominated country crooner told the Associated Press during an interview that her public rebuke of the "Last Night" singer "definitely triggered" her going into labor.
"It wasn't too, too early, just to be clear, but it definitely trigged it," Guytontold the AP. "Like I got cyberbullied really bad the day before I went into labor. It was really, really stressful."
The "Black Like Me" singer continued to address the controversy, telling the AP that she thinks "it was a lot of contributing factors other than just that. I think that all that we've seen over the whole course of 2020 was really hard, but that kind of just put me over the edge."
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On Feb. 2, 2021, a video surfaced of Wallen using a racial slur that has historically targeted Black people outside of his Nashville home. Days later, on Feb. 8, Guyton announced the birth of her son Grayson, now 3, on Feb. 8 of that year. Guyton has made headlines for the early labor claim before, including during an "Entertainment Tonight" interview in 2021 and an appearance last month on "The Breakfast Club" nationally syndicated radio program.
She also led the mainstream Nashville-based artists who spoke out on the controversy, which included Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini.
"When I read comments saying 'this is not who we are' I laugh because this is exactly who country music is," Guyton said at the time in an X post, adding that she's "witnessed it" for 10 years.
She continued: "You guys should just read some of the vile comments hurled at me on a daily basis. It's a cold hard truth to face but it is the truth."
During the AP interview, Guyton also seemingly addressed being a Black artist country music, saying she questions it "all the time" but seeing the success of Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter" and the album's Black featured artists such as Shaboozey, Willie Jones, Tanner Adell and Brittney Spencer "makes it all worth it."
Backlash from the insular country music industry in Nashville was swift and immediate after the Wallen video surfaced.
His label, Big Loud Records, announced it was "suspending" the contract of their biggest artist. The nation's largest radio network iHeartMedia took Wallen’s songs out of rotation from their 800-plus stations. He was banned from the ballot of the Academy of Country Music Awards and CMT Music Awards. Streaming services scrubbed him from their official playlists.
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Wallen apologized, canceled all of his scheduled concerts and subsequently disappeared from public life. Then, he came back two months later, telling his loyal fan army that he'd see them "sooner rather than later." In July, he made a surprise appearance at a Luke Bryan concert in Nashville and was greeted by a minute-long standing ovation from the sold-out crowd.
Later, he sat down for an exclusive interview on "Good Morning America" with Michael Strahan, one of the program's two main Black anchors. When asked whether he believed country music had a "race problem," Wallen responded, "It would seem that way, yeah. I haven't really sat and thought about that."
Now, three years later, Wallen's career has returned to its pre-scandal success. Along with Lainey Wilson, he leads the field of nominees at the 58th Annual Country Music Association Awards.
Contributing: Marcus K. Dowling and Dave Paulson, The Tennessean