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Luke Combs apologizes for his past use of Confederate flag: 'There is no excuse'

Dave Paulson
Nashville Tennessean
Luke Combs wins Album of the Year at the 55th Academy of Country Music Awards on Sept. 16, 2020.

Country star Luke Combs said "there is no excuse" for his past use of Confederate flag imagery in photos and a 2015 music video. 

"As I've grown in my time as an artist, and as the world has changed drastically in the last five to seven years, I am now aware how painful that image can be," Combs said.

"...I would never want to be associated with something that brings so much hurt to someone else."

The comments came Wednesday during a conversation on "accountability and the future of country music" with Maren Morris and moderator Ann Powers for the annual Country Radio Seminar. 

In 2015 — two years before the release of his debut album — Combs was seen performing in front of numerous Confederate flags in the music video for Ryan Upchurch's "Can I Get a Outlaw." His acoustic guitar at the time also included a sticker with the flag's image. Photos of Combs with that guitar have circulated on social media in recent months.

Plans for the conversation took shape earlier this month after country star Morgan Wallen was filmed using a racial slur. The incident prompted an industry-wide response (including the removal of Wallen's music from hundreds of radio stations) and renewed conversations on racism, inclusion and a continued lack of diversity in country music.

After the video of Wallen was released on Feb. 2, Morris was one of the first (and ultimately few) mainstream country stars to directly condemn his actions. She also dedicated her 2020 CMA Award for Female Vocalist of Year to numerous Black women in country music.

As Morris discussed during the conversation, she also has been called out for past behavior. She recalled a tweet by writer Andrea Williams that pointed out a lack of Black musicians on her most recent album, which proudly wore an R&B influence. Morris was initially defensive before deciding "that's a really good question."

"I have got to correct that and acknowledge that," she said. "Yeah, absolutely, cultural appropriation, culture 'vulturing' is a real thing. I love country music so much. I have my version of it, of what I make. And I think that going forward, I just want to pay respect to the people that actually built it for me."

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Combs said it had been "difficult" to prepare for Wednesday's conversation, and noted the perceived risk a country artist takes when speaking on social and political issues. 

He said he was participating in the conversation "not to say, 'I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.'"

"I'm here to say, 'I'm trying to learn. I'm trying to get better.' I know that I'm a very highly visible member of the country music community right now. And I want to use that position for good, and to say that people can change and people do want to change, and I'm one of those people trying."

The conversation also touched on country music's history of exclusion and the continued dominance of white men on the genre's airplay charts.

"Imagine over the last 50 years, the songs that we haven't gotten to hear, because we shut the door in a Black person's face," Morris said "(It) could have been the song of the year. We'll never know. We've got to change that going forward."

Combs said he "would be so welcoming and open" to having more diversity in his band, as well as on the country charts.

"I'm not diminishing anyone else's accomplishments. I worked my ass off to get where I am and so did Maren. But like she said, it's impossible to not say we've had it easier than our black counterparts, or I had it easier than Maren and my female counterparts. It's undeniable. For me to sit here and tell you that that's not true would just be a lie. I could stay silent and say, 'Well, I'm here, so I'm just not going to say anything, because I don't want to risk anything.' I just didn't feel like that was the right thing to do."

As for the Confederate flag, Combs said there were "so many" alternatives that people could point to for Southern pride.

"You can go plant a vegetable garden in your yard of heirloom plants that your family used to grow 200 years ago. That's something that you can do to be proud of your Southern heritage. You can cook a meal that your grandparents made. Those are the things that I try to do now to say 'Hey, I am proud of being from North Carolina. I am proud to be a rural guy.' ...You don't need the flag to be proud to be from the south. It doesn't have to be a part of that. And I think that that's something that, unfortunately, we're still figuring out."