Washington [US], March 12 (ANI): Singer-songwriter The Weeknd recently stated that he will boycott the Grammy Awards moving forward, including no longer attending the ceremony or submitting his work for consideration following his 2021 nomination snub.
As per People magazine, the singer, who was shut out of this year’s Grammy nominations, said in a statement to The New York Times, “Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.”
This comes after the singer’s album ‘After Hours’ and hit single ‘Blinding Lights’ were snubbed from this year’s nominations.
Responding to The Weeknd’s statement, Harvey Mason Jr., who is the Recording Academy’s interim chief executive, said that “we’re all disappointed when anyone is upset,” but stated that “we are constantly evolving.”
“And this year, as in past years, we are going to take a hard look at how to improve our awards process, including the nomination review committees,” Mason explained.
After backlash by the likes of Drake and Frank Ocean, the Academy has made efforts to diversify its membership and even hired a diversity officer and brought more women and people of colour into its leadership.
The Weeknd’s new statement comes months after the singer accused the Recording Academy of corruption when his music was completely left off of the 2021 nominations.
After the list of nominees was revealed, the singer broke his silence to criticise the awards show. “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency,” he wrote back then.
Soon after, artists including Drake and Halsey jumped to the ‘Starboy’ singer’s defense, further calling out the awards ceremony.
In late January, for Billboard’s cover story, the singer stated that his three Grammys — for ‘Starboy’, ‘Beauty Behind the Madness’, and ‘Earned It’, mean nothing to him.
‘”I use a sucker punch as an analogy,” the singer said about his “remain corrupt” tweet.
He added, “Because it just kind of hit me out of nowhere. I definitely felt … I felt things. I don’t know if it was sadness or anger. I think it was just confusion. I just wanted answers. Like, ‘What happened?'”
The singer said then that he “personally doesn’t care anymore” about the situation.
“I have three Grammys, which mean nothing to me now, obviously. It’s not like, ‘Oh, I want the Grammy!’ It’s just that this happened, and I’m down to get in front of the fire, as long as it never happens again,” he said.
“I suck at giving speeches anyways. Forget awards shows,” The Weeknd added.
The Grammys have come under renewed scrutiny in recent years, after longstanding accusations of bias against Black artists and women in particular. The Weeknd follows Frank Ocean in opting not to submit his music for Grammy consideration in protest, while artists including Drake, Kanye West, and Ariana Grande have slammed or publicly clashed with the awards show.
The Grammy Awards are set to air live from Los Angeles on Sunday on CBS and Paramount+. (ANI)