The nominations for the 63rd Grammy Awards were announced on Tuesday, and while it should be an exciting time for the music industry, it has been marred by controversy.
Topping the list was Beyoncé, who received nine nods, while Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, Justin Bieber and Harry Styles were also nominated. However, there was one noticeable absence from the list — The Weeknd.
The Candian performer was expected to receive several nominations for his album After Hours — which has already won multiple awards this year — so not seeing his name on the list was incredibly surprising.
The most shocked, of course, was the man himself who took to Twitter calling the awards show “corrupt”.
“The Grammys remain corrupt,” he tweeted. “You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”
https://twitter.com/theweeknd/status/1331394452447870977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1331394452447870977%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2020%2F11%2F25%2Fentertainment%2Fthe-weeknd-grammys-trnd%2Findex.html
In a statement to Billboard, Harvey Mason Jr, the Recording Academy’s chair and interim president/chief executive officer said that he understood why The Weeknd “is disappointed at not being nominated”.
“I was surprised and can empathise with what he’s feeling. His music this year was excellent…,” the statement read. “We were thrilled when we found out he would be performing at the upcoming Super Bowl and we would have loved to have him also perform on the Grammy stage the weekend before.
“To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process.”
In an interview with Variety, Mason Jr said that voting is “a long, arduous process and people take pride in it”.
“The people in that room care: there are no agendas in there, there’s no ‘let’s snub this person’ or that person. It’s about, ‘Let’s try and find excellence.’”
The Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, January 31, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. ET in the United States — which is Monday, February 1, 2021, at 11.00 a.m AEST — and will be hosted by The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah.
According to Mason Jr, they’re still “trying to finalise the location” for the ceremony.
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