Morgan Wallen gives first interview since the January incident that derailed his career

“I’m not ever going to make everyone happy, I can only tell my truth, and that’s all I know to do.”

That’s how Morgan Wallen opened his nationally-televised interview on ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday, his first interview since an incident in January which drew the chart-topping singer widespread criticism.

Wallen was recorded by a neighbor using a racial slur while apparently drunk outside his Nashville home.

“I was around some of my friends, and we just … we say dumb stuff together,” Wallen said on “GMA.” “And it was — in our minds, it’s playful … that sounds ignorant, but it — that’s really where it came from … and it’s wrong.”

Wallen’s music was pulled from country radio in the ensuing backlash. He was also blacklisted from this year’s ACMs.

The singer also said that he’d undergone alcohol rehab for 30 days in Arizona following the incident.

Asked whether there seems to be a race problem in Country Music overall, Wallen responded: “it would seem that way, yeah. I haven’t really sat and thought about that.”