Despite ‘N’ Word(s), Grand Ole Opry, Grammy Voters Embrace Jelly Roll

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photo: Chris Hollo

Jelly Roll will be the Grand Ole Opry’s newest member. That is the news that was revealed Wednesday afternoon, December 10th, after the most recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast was released, and Jelly Roll was surprised on the podcast with a video message from Opry member Craig Morgan.

“Hey Jelly, my friend,” said Morgan from the Grand Ole Opry House. “I want to take a minute today to say congratulations on all the great things happening in your career and to thank you for the positive difference you are making in the lives of so many people who need the help. You are doing great work, buddy. Who would have ever dreamed I’d be back at the Opry House today to say…Jelly Roll, you are officially invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. It’s an honor to say, ‘Welcome to the family, brother.’” 

On cue, Jelly Roll burst into tears on the Joe Rogan Experience set.

The induction comes very expected, if not even delayed. There were numerous rumors swirling around the live broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry’s 100th Anniversary Celebration on March 19th that Jelly Roll would be inducted at that time. But when Jelly Roll backed out of performing due to illness last minute, that potential plan was shelved.

Jelly Roll has a teary, emotional history with the Grand Ole Opry that was recounted in part during the video presentation on the Joe Rogan Experience. His debut was on November 9th, 2021 where in his fiery, sermon-like style, Jelly Roll spoke about how important the moment was for him going from a Nashville native pursuing a hip-hop career who ended up a convicted felon, to using country music to rehabilitate himself.


However, the Jelly Roll induction deserves a significant amount of scrutiny, starting with the fact that little if anything about Jelly Roll’s musical output in the past or present really has anything to do with country music. He’s a former hip-hop and rock performer who’s leveraged the permissive nature of the country music industry into a mainstream country career.

Jelly Roll characterized in a January 2023 video that he’d “snuck in the back door on these bitches,” with the “bitches” being the country music industry. But that wasn’t the only troubling revelation from the video where Jelly Roll was discussing the local Nashville hip-hop scene with fellow country rappers Upchurch and Adam Calhoun.

In the video, Jelly Roll is heard using the N-word three times. For context, this was two years after Morgan Wallen was caught on camera using the N-word, which became arguably the biggest controversy in country music in the last decade. Where Morgan Wallen was charged with making numerous public apologies and has since donated millions of dollars to Black charities, Jelly Roll hasn’t even had to answer for the situation since zero media outlets have reported on it, except for Saving Country Music.

To read more about the Jelly Roll N-word incident, CLICK HERE.


The intent of revealing and highlighting this information is not an effort to “cancel” Jelly Roll, but to point out the double standard institutions such as the Grand Ole Opry are perpetrating for Jelly Roll, who apparently is deemed beyond reproach. As Jelly Roll just got invited to become a Grand Ole Opry member, Morgan Wallen remains basically banned from the institution indefinitely.

The last time Morgan Wallen appeared on the Opry was January 8th, 2022. He was not scheduled to perform on the Opry that night. Instead he simply jumped on stage to sing the track “Flower Shops” with duet partner Ernest. Wallen’s appearance received widespread condemnation from the Black country community, including the Black Opry, Rissi Palmer, Allison Russell, and other performers such as Jason Isbell.

Meanwhile, mum has been the word around Jelly Roll as he continues to be considered a media darling without the scrutiny most any other country performer would receive. Similarly to the Opry, the Grammy Awards recently turned a blind eye to Jelly Roll’s indiscretions and nominated him for three awards in country. In fact, the Joe Rogan appearance and Opry invitation were likely planned to align during Grammy voting, which opens on December 12th.

But in truth, the Grand Ole Opry, Grammy members, and the rest of the public probably don’t even know that the footage of Jelly Roll using the N-word exists due to the media enacting a strange moratorium on the information, and many who would report on such activity from virtually any other country performer. Others might recognize the double standard, but don’t want to be accused of participating in “cancel culture.”

Just like everyone else, Jelly Roll has a right to rehabilitate and receive forgiveness. This is what much of his music is about. But the marketing behind his music often obfuscates the public from the truth of Jelly Roll’s recent indiscretions while he’s supposedly been in a rehabilitated state, and so he’s never been challenged to answer or apologize for actions that other performers wear around their necks like scarlet letters to this day.

Saving Country Music has reached out to Jelly Roll representatives for comment in the past without receiving responses.

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