Country singer Morgan Wallen was suspended by his record label and removed from hundreds of radio stations last week after a video surfaced of him saying the n-word. The Rev. Irene Monroe and the Rev. Emmett G. Price III spoke to Boston Public Radio on Monday about the incident.
"This person got caught and then apologized, and the entire industry slammed him — but I think the challenge is that you shouldn't make an example of him in negative way," Price said. "Make him an example in a positive way and have him become a spokesperson on his road to redemption. Have him speak up."
Monroe said she wouldn't engage in "cancel culture" because it doesn't help the situation.
"Instead, I would have him help open the doors now for people of color," she said. "He has a humongous platform. He can talk to all of those platforms and help lift those voices up. That's righting a wrong."
Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Price is a professor of worship, church and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience. Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by GBH.
