Grammy contenders decline nominations in protest of all-white nominees

The protesting artists are in the 'Best Children's Music Album category' at the Grammys

Jan 5, 2021

After spending much of last year dealing with controversy, it seems like 2021 is set to be more of the same for the Recording Academy. Ahead of the 62nd annual ceremony, Grammy contenders are declining nominations in protest of all-white nominees.

Three artists that are nominated for Best Children’s Music Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards are asking the academy to rescind their nominations in the category. Alastair Moock & Friends, The Okee Dokee Brothers, and Dog on Fleas are the three acts coming together to protest the all-white category. For the Best Children’s Music Album Grammy, all of the nominees are white, and only one of them is a female act.

Grammys thegrio.com — (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

In a letter obtained by Pitchfork, the three acts wrote, “We are deeply grateful to the Recording Academy and its voting members for the honor we’ve received, but we can’t in good conscience benefit from a process that has—both this year and historically—so overlooked women, performers of colors, and most especially Black performers.”

The letter continues to reference the already unfair statistics at the Grammys when nominating minority artists.

“In the past 10 years, only about 6% of nominated acts have been Black-led or co-led, another 8% or so have been non-Black-POC-led, and around 30% have been female led. These numbers would be disappointing in any category, but—in a genre whose performers are unique tasked with modeling fairness, kindness, and inclusion; in a country where more than half of all children are non-white; and after a year of national reckoning around race and gender—the numbers are unacceptable.”

https://twitter.com/AlastairMoock/status/1337020041406124034?s=20

The Grammys also came under fire by The Weeknd after receiving no nominations for his album After Hours last November. Responding on Twitter, the singer said, “The Grammys remain corrupt…you owe me, my fans and the industry transparency.”

https://twitter.com/theweeknd/status/1331394452447870977?s=20

The 62nd annual Grammy Awards were recently postponed to March due to COVID-19 concerns.

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