Country singer Luke Combs apologized for his earlier use of the Confederacy flag.
Combs, 30, on Wednesday approached resurrected photos showing him with images of the Confederacy during a panel conversation about responsibility in country music. Also present was singer Maren Morris.
“There is no excuse for these images,” the singer told NPR panel moderator Ann Powers.
The photos included screenshots of a previous music video that Combs appeared with artist Ryan Upchurch. According to People, the singer was seen “amid a series of Confederate battle flags, including one on a decal pasted on his guitar”.
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Country artist Luke Combs says he wants to use his public platform ‘for good’ after addressing his previous use of the Confederacy flag.
(Getty)
Combs expressed his regret for the photos, which would have been seven to eight years ago. The North Carolina native explained that the flag is “an image that I have associated to mean something else”.
“Hate is not part of my core values and it’s not something I consider to be part of myself … I’m here to say, ‘I’m trying to learn. I’m trying to improve,'” Combs said through the plug.
The award-winning artist also said he wants to use his position in the public eye “for good” and shared that he is “one of those people who try” to change.
“And as I grew up in my time as an artist and the world has changed dramatically in the past five to seven years, I am now aware of how painful that image can be for someone else,” he added. “I would never want to be associated with something that brings so much suffering to someone else.”
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Combs’ words came weeks after country singer Morgan Wallen, 27, was suspended from his record label and removed from the radio after a video appeared showing him using the word N.
Maren Morris was one of several people who reported Morgan Wallen’s latest online controversy.
(ABC via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Morris, who publicly denounced Wallen’s latest controversy, said she also didn’t fully understand the history of the Confederate flag when she was younger. She said she saw it as “southern pride” until her teens.
“In fact, it is representative of our city because this is not his first ‘fight’ and he just demolished a huge streaming disc last month. We all know that it was not the first time that he used that word,” “girl”, 30, previously tweeted about Wallen. “We keep them rich and protected at all costs, without resources.”
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Wallen has already issued an apology that Morris addressed on Wednesday.
“I appreciate Morgan saying ‘stop defending myself’ to your fans, because it is indefensible. He knows it. We know it,” said the “Bones” singer. “All we can do, so that there isn’t an elephant in the room, is to say it out loud, hold our colleagues accountable. I don’t care if it’s weird to sit in the same row with you at the next award.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.