The Weeknd to boycott Grammy Awards due to ‘secret committees’

The singer said he will no longer allow his team to submit his music for consideration

Mar 11, 2021

The Weeknd is airing out his grievances with the Grammy Awards once again after previously slamming the Recording Academy for being corrupt.

The Canadian-born artist was shut out of this year’s Grammy nominations, and the snub fuels accusations of bias against Black artists. In a statement to the New York Times, The Weeknd announced that he will boycott the Grammy’s going forward due to the secret committees that review the nominees chosen by the Recording Academy’s voting members. These committees have the final say on who is nominated.

“Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys,” the statement reads. The Weeknd slammed the Grammys in November after the nominees for this year’s awards show were announced.

“The Grammys remain corrupt,” he wrote on Twitter at the time. “You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency.”

theGRIO previously reported, per TMZ, that sources claimed the “Starboy” singer was being punished for choosing to perform at the 2021 Super Bowl. Grammy chief Harvey Mason Jr. responded to the allegations and denied the Super Bowl opportunity restricted The Weeknd from the Grammy stage, Variety reported.

“We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated,” said Mason. “I was surprised and can empathize with what he’s feeling. His music this year was excellent, and his contributions to the music community and broader world are worthy of everyone’s admiration. 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.”

Mason added further clarification.

“Unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists. But as the only peer-voted music award, we will continue to recognize and celebrate excellence in music while shining a light on the many amazing artists that make up our global community,” he said. “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.”

The Weeknd joins a growing list of Black music stars, such as Drake, Kanye West and Frank Ocean, who have publicly called out the Grammys for continuously failing to recognize people of color with top awards.

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“We’re all disappointed when anyone is upset,” said Mason in response to the Weeknd’s statement. “But I will say 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.”

Beyoncé leads this year’s Grammys nominations with 8 nods, followed by Taylor Swift with five. Other top nominees include Dua Lipa with six nods, along with Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch, Coldplay, Haim and Jhené Aiko.