Morgan Wallen enlists Peyton and Eli Manning to announce he’s extending concert tour
The Manning brothers are proving they can do it all: football, acting, comedy, broadcasting and now, Morgan Wallen concert promotion.
Peyton and Eli Manning lent a helping hand to country megastar Wallen to assist him in announcing his 2024 U.S. tour dates.
The announcement video, which dropped Tuesday, begins with Peyton Manning donning a mullet wig — very reminiscent of Wallen’s signature hairstyle, which is currently on hiatus — and singing along to Wallen’s hit song “Last Night.” The former Indianapolis Colts quarterback then answers a FaceTime call from the “Wasted on You” singer, who asks him how the concert promotion is going.
Wallen then makes sure to remind the already-in-costume NFL Hall of Famer of the specific guidelines he set for the video: no dressing up (whoops!), no singing (whoops, again) and don’t “overdo it with the bad jokes” (ouch).
Wallen’s new opus is destined to be one of the year’s best sellers, despite (or because of) its unwillingness to address the singer’s scandal from 2021.
The elder Manning responds to Wallen’s requests, saying, “If you wanted someone who doesn’t know how to look cool and can’t sing or tell jokes, you should’ve called Eli.”
Wallen then ponders the NFL legend’s suggestion before adding, “Eli, that’s a great idea,” and hanging up. The video then kicks over to Eli Manning, who delivers the news that Wallen’s One Night at a Time tour is extending into the new year, with new dates beginning in April 2024.
Sadly for Wallen’s L.A. fans, the country artist will not be making any additional tour stops in the greater L.A. area — he performed at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium in July. But the singer will be the April 28 headliner on the third day of Stagecoach 2024 in Indio. Also, the 2024 tour will close out with an Aug. 8 show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. So there will be a couple of opportunities for SoCal Wallen-heads to see the superstar nearby.
Tuesday’s video ends with Peyton Manning desperately trying to get in touch with Wallen.
Morgan Wallen faces possible lawsuits and ire from fans after abruptly canceling his concert in Mississippi. The musician is on vocal rest.
“Morgan, looks like I got your voicemail again, pal,” the two-time Super Bowl winner said. “Guess I’m really ‘Chasing You.’ Get it? Like your song. All right, call me when you get this. It’s Peyton. Peyton Manning.”
Wallen has seen his career bounce back in recent years after he was caught on tape in 2021 saying a racial slur.
“Take care of this p— ass m—,” he said in the video, published by TMZ, and then uttered the N-word.
After the video went public, Wallen said, “I’m embarrassed and sorry. I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever.”
A backlash is ballooning against Morgan Wallen after the popular country music artist was recorded shouting a racist slur outside his Nashville home.
His record labels, Big Loud Records and Republic Records, released a statement that read: “In the wake of recent events, Big Loud Records has made the decision to suspend Morgan Wallen’s recording contract indefinitely. Republic Records fully supports Big Loud’s decision and agrees such behavior will not be tolerated.”
Wallen’s hyper-successful 2023 album “One Thing at a Time” was released through Big Loud and Republic, as well as Mercury Records.
His music was removed temporarily from iHeartMedia, CMT, SiriusXM and Pandora, while Spotify and Apple Music took his songs off their official playlists at the time of the controversy. His music is now available on these platforms again, with Wallen’s image currently being used as the cover art for Spotify’s “Country Top 50” playlist.
Times assistant editor Christie D’Zurilla contributed to this report.
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