Fans tuning in on Thursday, Sept. 26, to see which country artists won the People’s Choice Country Awards were surprised to see how the night turned out for rising star Morgan Wallen, who has experienced a lot of ups and downs this year.
Going into the awards show, Wallen had a number nominations, including People’s Artist of 2024, Male Artist of 2024 and Song of 2024 for his feature on Post Malone‘s “I Had Some Help.”
Though he wasn’t physically present at the ceremony, Wallen, 31, scored some big victories, including a win for People’s Artist of 2024, the Social Country Star of 2024 and the Concert Tour of 2024. His and Malone’s duet also won Song of 2024.
Fans of the “Thought You Should Know” singer cheered him on at the night’s event, which took place at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn., but there were also people hoping other artists won instead of Wallen, with some reacting to Wallen’s legal troubles this year.
So when Wallen won one of the night’s biggest awards—for the second year in a row—people rushed to social media to share their thoughts, leading to a divisive conversation.
Wallen’s fans wrote supportive notes like, “congratulations @MorganWallen on all of your #PCCAs wins tonight,” before adding, “proud of you!”
“The people have spoken and the GOAT has done it again!!!” another user said in response to Wallen’s four big victories.
But there was also some criticism for the rising country star mixed in, such as one person’s comment that said, “I’m a Morgan Wallen hater through and through. F—k that man for real.”
Other viewers shared their thoughts, writing, “I hate that Morgan Wallen is a hit maker.”
In 2023, at the first-ever People’s Choice Country Awards, Wallen had the most nominations and took home three awards, including People’s Artist of 2023, Album of 2023 for One Thing at a Time, and Concert Tour of 2023.
Wallen faced some obstacles this year, including an arrest and three felony counts of reckless endangerment after he threw a chair off a rooftop bar in Nashville in April. His court date is currently set for December.
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