After a video of Morgan Wallen using a racial slur went viral last week, the country star is addressing the incident that led his label to swiftly suspend his contract.
On Wednesday night, the 27-year-old issued a lengthy apology on his Instagram page and said he regrets using the N-word while he was out partying with friends.
Wallen captioned the post "Update from me" and began the five-minute clip by saying he was "long overdue" for an apology. The singer explained that he wanted to take some time to collect his thoughts and "seek some real guidance" before speaking out.
TMZ first obtained the video of Wallen using the racial slur and the singer said he feels remorseful for his actions.
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"The video you saw was me on hour 72 of 72 of a bender and that's not something I'm proud of either," he said. "Obviously the natural thing to do is to apologize further and just continue to apologize, but, because you got caught, but that's not what I wanted to do.
"I let so many people down who mean a lot to me and who have given so much to me and it's just not fair."
Wallen went on to explain that several Black organizations have invited him to take part in candid discussions about racism since his video went viral last week and said he was humbled by their gesture.
"That kindness really inspired me to dig deeper on how to do something about this. One thing I've learned already is, I'm specifically sorry for is that it matters. My words matter. A word can truly hurt a person and at my core, that's not what I'm OK with," he said.
The father of one continued, "Our actions matter, our words matter, and I just want to encourage anyone watching to please learn from my mistake. There's no reason to downplay what I did. It matters and please know I'm carefully choosing my next steps in repair."
The "More Than My Hometown" singer said he took the time to apologize to his family before speaking out publicly and announced that he has been sober for nine days following the incident.
"It's not all that long of a time but it's enough to know the man in that video is not the man that I'm trying to be," he said.
It's been a hectic couple of months for the singer. In October, "Saturday Night Live" pulled Wallen as a musical guest from the show after videos of him partying without wearing a face mask surfaced. Two months later, he was rebooked for the show.
Following last week's incident, Wallen plans to spend some time out of the spotlight to focus on himself and asked his fans to hold him accountable for his actions.
"I appreciate those who still see something in me and have defended me. But for today, please don't. I was wrong. It's on me to take ownership for this and I fully accept any penalties I'm facing," he said.