Morgan Wallen denied sign for ‘This Bar’ by Metro Council

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Country artist Morgan Wallen’s upcoming new honky-tonk will not have a large sign joining the ones on Broadway after the Metro Council soundly denied the application.

At its May 21 meeting, the Metro Council voted 3-30-4 against the application the bar’s ownership group, 4th Avenue Property LLC, submitted for a large illuminated sign for the upcoming venue.

Brought by Councilmember Jacob Kupin, the resolution would have allowed for the “aerial encroachment” at the bar’s 4th Avenue home.

During the meeting, Kupin said the matter came across his desk “right about the time that he decided to throw a chair off of a rooftop, nearly hitting some first responders.”

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Since then, Kupin said he’d heard from people who have had similar near-misses, and it struck him that “we’re putting up a sign with someone’s name on it who has not been a good actor downtown.” Because Wallen has since made efforts to make amends for his behavior, Kupin said he felt comfortable moving the issue forward, noting that TC Management Group, which is managing the food inside the upcoming bar, has been an excellent partner downtown.

“They’ve been easy to access; they’ve been conversational with me. They’ve worked on efforts to make downtown a safer place,” he said.

Kupin added how supporting the sign resolution would not mean condoning the actions of the man whose name is associated with the bar, noting TC Restaurant Group’s professionalism in the endeavor.

But the resolution quickly took a turn, with council members stating they could not support the sign or the bar while also passing legislation designed to affirm Nashville’s status as a welcoming place for all.

CM At-Large Delishia Porterfield said during the meeting she would not support the resolution, saying she couldn’t support someone who throws chairs off of a downtown bar roof and using racial slurs.

CM Brenda Gadd said she could not in good conscience support the resolution, given that Wallen has received multiple chances to improve his behavior and has not taken up the mantle at doing so.

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CM Jordan Huffman said Wallen gave East Tennesseans like himself “a bad name.”

“His comments are hateful. His actions are harmful, and he don’t belong in this town, as far as I’m concerned,” he said during the meeting. “I’m tired of this city bending over to just make anybody happy to make a comment that they want to. We can’t continue to go down this road. I encourage my colleagues to vote against this.”

He later told News 2 the vote against Wallen’s sign wasn’t “a political thing” at all.

“It’s just as simple as this: if you act a fool, you should be held accountable, and Republicans and Democrats came together and sent a unifying message to Mr. Wallen last night that if you want to own an establishment within our city, then you need to know that the city will hold you accountable for your actions,” he said.

Kupin later told News 2 the situation was an interesting one for the Council, as most aerial encroachment measures sail through Council on the consent agenda without discussion.

“We don’t tolerate hate or bigotry,” Kupin said. “We don’t tolerate people throwing stuff off buildings. My goal was to make that statement clear and try to draw that distinction from the actual sign itself.

“It was a really tough balance, because you’ve got this individual that’s working against some of the initiatives we have going on, but you also have a bar owner group that is working with the initiatives that we have going on, so it’s really a tough balance to strike. What I settled on was, I’m going to carry it, I’m going to sponsor it, but I’m going to make sure that myself and my colleagues have an opportunity to weigh in and talk about it, because I think this is really an important thing for our body to look at as a whole.”

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Still, Kupin remains hopeful Wallen and his fans can take Tuesday night’s vote in the spirit in which it was meant and move forward.

“My hope is that Morgan and his fans take that as a message to say, you know, go have a good time; be a great country singer; perform, do all these things, but be a good actor. You know, take care of other people, treat other people right. You know, and I think that’s an important message to get across,” he said.

Councilmembers voting for the sign were Kupin, Jennifer Webb, and Jeff Eslick. CMs abstaining were Kyonzte Toombs, Mike Cortese, Jeff Gregg, and Courtney Johnston.

News 2 has reached out to Metro Legal for comment on the vote.

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