Morgan Wallen’s Nashville bar has opening postponed at last minute

Country star Morgan Wallen was set to open his own bar in Nashville this weekend, but he’s hit a couple of roadblocks along the way. The Metro Council voted down the neon sign with his name on it that he planned to hang outside the establishment, with one councilmember citing Wallen’s “hateful” comments and “harmful” actions, and now the opening has been postponed entirely. Billboard reports that representatives for TC Restaurant Group, who are working with Wallen on the endeavor, cornfirmed the postponement, but did not give a new opening date.

Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen issued a statement to Billboard, which reads, “We’re proud of our team who has worked tirelessly to prepare Morgan Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen for opening. The ground-up construction of a six-story venue launching with hundreds of team members is a tremendous amount of work and a complex process. When we open, we want This Bar to be an exceptional experience for guests. Unfortunately, the process requires more time, and we are not able to open and provide that experience this Memorial Day weekend. Rest assured it will be well worth the wait. We look forward to welcoming guests soon.”

Scoop Nashville says that the Nashville Beer Board denied the bar a catering permit and a temporary permit. A source would not comment on that to Billboard, but told them the location is waiting for final inspections, and said the postponement is not related to the denied approval of the neon sign.

In April, Wallen was charged with disorderly conduct and three felony counts of reckless endangerment after being accused of throwing a chair off the sixth story of Eric Church’s honky tonk; he’s to appear in court for those charges in August. Previously , he’d been embroiled in controversy over the use of a racial slur.