After her latest interview in Variety, the Grammys are apologizing to Tiffany Haddish after telling her to pay for hosting expenses.
Haddish recently explained that she turned down an offer to host the Grammys pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony because she was told she would have to pay for any and all expenses related to her hosting gig. This did not go over well for Haddish, and for good reason.
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She told Variety, “All of that would have to come out of my pocket…I don’t know if this might mean I might not get nominated ever again, but I think it’s disrespectful.” The expenses they refused to cover ranged from hair, makeup, wardrobe and even Haddish’s time. She revealed, “How many other people have they done that to? It’s like a guy asking you on a date but telling you that you have to pay for it.”
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This year, Haddish is nominated for her Best Comedy Album at the Grammys for her hit Netflix special, Black Mitzvah. This comes after she received her first Grammy nomination last year in the Spoken Word category for The Last Black Unicorn. Pondering her future relationship with the academy, Haddish told Variety, “I don’t know if this might mean I might not get nominated ever again, but I think it’s disrespectful.”
Early Thursday morning, the Recording Academy Interim President and CEO Harvey Mason Jr. posted an official apology video to Haddish on Instagram. In the video, Mason explained, “unfortunately and without me knowing, the talent booker working for the academy told Ms. Haddish that we wouldn’t even cover her costs while she hosted this event for us. To me that was wrong, I’m frustrated by that decision…”
He went on to explain that he is a part of the “creative community” and that it’s “not right.” He also reached out to Haddish directly and apologized.
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