Morgan Wallen has officially gotten the go-ahead to erect a 20-foot sign bearing his name outside his downtown Nashville bar.
The city’s Metro Council voted to approve the sign on Tuesday (Dec. 17), according to WSMV 4. This decision reverses the council’s May 2024 ruling to deny the sign’s installation outside of the establishment, which is called Morgan Wallen’s This Bar and Tennessee Kitchen.
In their original rejection of the sign, some council members expressed concern that a sign bearing Wallen’s name would convey a negative message, due in part to his history of scandal and legal troubles. Specifically, Metro Council member Delishia Porterfield pointed to Wallen’s 2021 racist slur scandal, as well as the charges he faced in 2024 for throwing a chair off of Eric Church‘s downtown Nashville bar.
“I don’t want to see a billboard up with the name of a person who’s throwing chairs off of balconies and who is saying racial slurs,” Porterfield reasoned at the time.
Read More: Morgan Wallen Pleads Guilty, Sentenced in Chair-Throwing Incident
During the first ruling on the sign issue, Wallen’s chair-throwing case was open; it concluded in the middle of this month, with the singer pleading guilty after a plea deal reduced his felony charges down to two misdemeanors.
He was sentenced to spend seven days in an alcohol education center, and he’ll serve two years’ probation in connection with the case.
The conclusion of Wallen’s legal case occurred just days before the Metro Council voted to approve his bar sign outside of This Bar.
Read More: Morgan Wallen Admits He ‘Doubted God’s Plan’ in Emotional Message to Fans
Wallen has kept a relatively low profile ever since concluding his One Night at a Time Tour in late 2024. He hasn’t made many public appearances, and even skipped the CMAs in November, where he won Entertainer of the Year. However, he has shared a couple of messages with his fans, including one where he opened up about the highs and lows of his career to date.