Every year when Grammy nominations are announced, there are the inevitable callouts from fans who feel that the Recording Academy has snubbed their favorites. This year was pretty egregious with The Weeknd not getting one nomination, and the singer was not quiet about it.
Billboard reports that the 30-year-old singer -- real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye -- tweeted about alleged corruption within the Recording Academy after he was snubbed in all categories for the 2021 Grammy Awards.
In the tweet, Tesfaye called the organization corrupt and declared that they need to be transparent to himself and his fans and the rest of the industry. The tweet currently has 29,000 replies and more than 200,000 retweets.
Tesfaye's questioning is warranted, as he had just won three American Music Awards a few days ago and was expected to also rake in the Grammy nominations. According to TMZ, the snub was alleged because he negotiated to perform at the Super Bowl and the Grammys.
The media outlet said negotiations between Tesfaye’s team and the Grammy organizers became heated before an agreement was finally arrived upon that would allow Tesfaye to perform on both shows. However, the tense negotiations, allegedly, did not sit well with the Grammy organizers.
However, in an interview with Variety, Recording Academy interim chief Harvey Mason, Jr. said that the Grammy voters ultimately decided the shutout. Mason said that The Weeknd being shut out of nomination is not something that invalidates the whole Grammy process.
Mason also insisted that all 20 members of the committee decide who gets the Big Four nominations -- Best Album, Best Song, Best Record, and Best New Artist -- listened to every song and album that was up for the nomination. The mood, according to Mason, was to find excellence.
Aside from The Weeknd himself, several fans have also questioned the snubs in the Grammy nominations list. Fans of former One Direction member Harry Styles, for instance, decried his lack of nominations in the Album of the Year and Song of the Year categories.
For instance, one Twitter user remarked that Harry Styles, BTS, and The Weeknd all deserved recognition from the Recording Academy since the trio put out the year's best albums.
Fans and viewers will now have to wait until January 2021 to see if The Weeknd will perform at the Grammys. The awards show itself will have to figure out a way to stage the ceremony in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic.