Morgan Wallen kicked off April with a potentially career-ending move. The 30-year-old country star, who stood on the precipice of exponentially growing fame, may be facing jail time following an early April incident.
Wallen was arrested in the late hours of April 7 after the “Up Down” singer threw a chair from the six-story roof of a Nashville bar. Several police officers were standing just a few feet from where the chair landed, outside of Eric Church’s Chief’s Bar, and quickly pinned Wallen as the culprit. He was arrested just before midnight on April 7, and by 3:30am on April 8 he was out on $15,250 bond.
That won’t be the end of his legal hurdles, however. Wallen may not presently be behind bars, but his actions — which could be brought to court as felonies — are serious. They could land him in jail for up to six years in total, and if that happens, there’s no way Wallen will be hitting all those One Night at a Time tour stops.
Is Morgan Wallen still going on tour, after his arrest?
This isn’t the first time Wallen has found himself in legal trouble, but the chair throwing incident may be the thing that actually lands him behind bars. The 30-year-old singer is facing three felony reckless endangerment charges along with one disorderly conduct charge, which — according to former New York prosecutor Rither Alabre — could equal out to between one and six years in prison.
Even the low end of that estimation would massively interrupt Wallen’s freshly-initiated tour, which kicked off at the start of April. He has tour dates scheduled across the nation with dates from April to early August, but with Wallen’s incoming court dates, at least a few are guaranteed to see delays.
There’s a potential that Wallen will cancel his tour outright, but its not likely. He’s next expected in court on May 3, the same date on which he’s currently scheduled to play Nashville’s Nissan Stadium. That appearance is all but guaranteed to be canceled, or at least postponed, but what about the rest of Wallen’s tour?
Whether or not the tour proceeds as scheduled will almost certainly hinge on that May court appearance. Should Wallen avoid serving jail time — something that’s slightly more likely than average, given his fame and wealth — there’s no way he’ll cancel his tour. He needs the One Night at a Time tour to do well, in the wake of the incident, in order to overshadow his arrest and any charges he does face.
If he does land jail time, however, the fate of his tour is uncertain. Legal proceedings tend to take a long time, so there’s a good chance Wallen won’t be headed to prison this year even if he is given a jail sentence, but should the courts move quickly, we could see the One Night at a Time tour heavily delayed, or even outright canceled.
