The mayor of Pittsburgh is pushing back on Morgan Wallen’s claim that his conversation with city officials led him to cancel his concert over weather concerns.
Wallen, 33, announced Saturday afternoon that his Still The Problem tour concert that night at the city’s Acrisure Stadium would be canceled due to scattered storms in the area. The controversial country singer said that after speaking with “local officials,” he had “no choice” but to call off the show.
However, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor denied that any conversation with city officials took place and said that Wallen had “no contact” before making his decision.
“No City of Pittsburgh officials met with or consulted with the tour about the cancellation,” a spokesperson for O’Connor told The Independent.
“There was no contact to Public Safety or my administration, so however the artist and his team picked to not have the show, that was on them,” O’Connor, 41, told KDKA Radio, according to Audacy. “If you’re going to say that you consulted… that’s one story. We, again, had no record of that, from public safety director all the way down.”
When Wallen canceled the show, he wrote in a statement: “Safety for my fans and crew is the highest priority. Refunds available at point of purchase.”
Backlash immediately ensued Saturday as fans complained that canceling the show was unnecessary because the predicted thunderstorms were not near the concert venue, and the bad weather ended hours before the show was scheduled to begin.
The criticism led Wallen to issue a video statement on his Instagram Story, lashing out at “nonsense rumors.”
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“This morning, my team walked on my bus and told me they had been consulting with local officials and that I should cancel my show in Pittsburgh tonight and I said, ‘Why?’” the “Last Night” singer said.
“They said that there was going to be strong winds in the area, and I said, ‘OK.’ So, that is what I did and that was the information I had in the moment, and I trusted my team,” he continued. “I understand that wind hasn’t gotten to Pittsburgh yet.”
He said: “The truth of the matter is, I have a large stage that, in those conditions, could become fatal to a lot of folks around it. So, I did the best I could with the information I had in that moment.”
Wallen concluded, “I’ve been seeing a lot of nonsense about me that is simply not true, and I just wanted to clear the air,” Wallen added. “I think my true fans know that that’s not how I operate in general, but I had to say it. Y’all take care.”
It comes after Wallen has already faced controversy on his tour after video circulated of him flipping his piano on stage.