HARDY Criticizes Industry Sanctions as Morgan Wallen’s Audience Size Surges

In an October 2025 Rolling Stone interview tied to his album Country! Country!, HARDY questioned how long key radio and industry figures kept Morgan Wallen at arm’s length after Wallen’s widely covered controversies. HARDY argued that the reaction from the public — measured in sustained touring demand and streaming scale — proved that the audience did not follow the most severe calls for exclusion.

Wallen’s 2021 incident involving a slur led to broadcast removals, a label suspension, and awards-show restrictions. In 2024, he faced a new legal matter after an object was dropped from a Nashville rooftop bar and charges were filed. Yet commercial growth continued throughout that period: One Thing at a Time registered month after month in strong chart positions, and his 2024 stadium stretch — including dates in Knoxville — drew crowds measured in seven figures across the tour cycle.

HARDY’s argument was that this contradiction revealed a divide between industry institutions and the paying audience. He said the large-scale turnout for Wallen’s touring showed fan decisions operating independently from the decisions of gatekeepers.

Their personal connection was not new. HARDY and Wallen have written songs together, have appeared together on stages going back years, and HARDY has publicly stood beside him during difficult publicity cycles before. In the new interview, he framed Wallen’s current popularity not as a surprise, but as evidence that long-term demand did not disappear when industry sanctions were imposed — it simply continued outside the center.