Twitter users bashed country singer Morgan Wallen over the weekend after he used his performances in Arizona to honor a fallen soldier.
During two back-to-back shows at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona on July 19 and 20, Wallen chose to honor fallen hero Pat Tillman, a player for the Arizona Cardinals who left his NFL career in May 2002 to join the Army Rangers following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He died in Afghanistan in 2004 when he was struck by friendly fire.
Wallen wore Tillman’s Cardinals jersey onstage to honor the fallen soldier and pay homage to his former city.
Phoenix was so hot had me rocking shorts on stage. Thank y'all for the great memories, I had a damn blast pic.twitter.com/nwKMeXQa3S
— Official Morgan Wallen (@Officia_Wallen) July 23, 2023
Some Twitter users, however, appeared to take issue with Wallen’s choice to reference Tillman, saying the soldier would have “hated” Wallen.
“Pat Tillman would’ve hated this dude lmao,” one Twitter user said.
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“Man, fuck @MorganWallen for this. What a shithead racist who knows nothing of Pat Tillman,” one user posted.
“I love when conservatives do this because Pat Tillman would have fucking despised them,” another user said.
Most of the comments on social media revolved around the assertion that Tillman was vehemently opposed to conservatism and Republicans. However, some users defended Wallen and pointed out the idea that he could still honor Tillman without agreeing completely with his ideology.
“Morgan Wallen: *Shows respect to a Vet who lost his life while giving up millions of dollars to play in the NFL.* Some Twitter nerd: ‘PAT TILLMAN WOULD OF HATED MORGAN WALLEN!!’” one Twitter user said.
“Not everything is politics bro. Why can’t he just be a fan of Pat Tillman?” another person tweeted.
“I really don’t get this hate. He can’t just honor pat Tillman? Why does politics need to be dragged into everything,” another user said in response.
Wallen, for his part, has not publicly acknowledged any of the backlash he has received on social media. His next concert for his “One Night at a Time” tour will be in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, at We fest.
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