The Weeknd has slammed the Grammys as "corrupt" following his exclusion from all categories during Tuesday's nominations announcement.
Taking to Twitter, the Canadian singer-songwriter – real name Abel Tesfaye – who has amassed three Grammy Awards throughout his career, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for Earned It in 2016, wrote: "The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency."
The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency...
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) November 25, 2020
The "transparency" the Starboy singer is referring to is the process by which nominations are selected, which is kept secret, as is the identity of those on the committees who choose the nominees.
Exclusion is ‘difficult to explain’
"The Weeknd's absence from the Grammy nominations is the biggest snub in recent memory, and one that is difficult to explain beyond the fact that, contrary to the opinions of millions of fans and hundreds of critics, the 20-odd-member nominating committees did not feel his After Hours album or its many singles were one of the eight Best Albums, Songs or Records of the Year, or the five best in genre categories," wrote Variety's Jem Aswad.
The star's shut-out follows rumours the singer and his team had been at loggerheads with the Grammys over him performing at both the awards ceremony on Sunday, January 31, 2021, and the Super Bowl halftime show a week later. Negotiations were said to have been contentious, but that he would play both events.
"There are no agendas in there, there's no 'let's snub this person' or that person," Recording Academy interim president and chief executive Harvey Mason Jr told Variety. "It's about, 'Let's try and find excellence.'"
Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber hit out
The Weeknd is not the only recording artist with a bone to pick with the Grammys this year. Rapper Nicki Minaj also took to Twitter to remind her fans that she has never won an award at the industry event, despite having received 10 nominations over the years.
Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation. They gave it to the white man Bon Iver. #PinkFriday
— BEAM ME UP SCOTTY MIXTAPE OUT NOW‼️🎀🦄♥️ (@NICKIMINAJ) November 24, 2020
"Never forget the Grammys didn't give me my Best New Artist award when I had seven songs simultaneously charting on Billboard and a bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade – went on to inspire a generation," wrote the 37-year-old Anaconda singer. "They gave it to the white man Bon Iver."
Justin Bieber was another artist who took issue with the Academy. Despite receiving four nominations for his Changes album – Best Pop Solo Performance for Yummy, Best Pop Duo / Group Performance for Intentions featuring Quavo, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Country Duo / Group Performance for featuring on Dan + Shay's 10,000 Hours – he took to Instagram to write: "I set out to make an RnB album. Changes was and is an R&B album. It is not being acknowledged as an RnB album, which is very strange to me."
Harry Styles and BTS ‘snubbed’
The Grammys earned the ire of K-Pop sensation BTS' legion of dedicated and vocal fans – nicknamed the 'Army' – after the group's track Dynamite, their first number one on the Hot 100, failed to receive any nominations in the major song categories.
And a similar fate befell former One Direction star Harry Styles, who was nominated in the Best Pop Vocal Album category for his album Fine Line, along with a further two nods, but received no nominations in the four major categories of Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist.
