Musicians call out Grammys as The Weeknd boycott awards ceremony

The Grammy Awards, which air Sunday on CBS, are widely known as “Music’s Biggest Night.”

Some top artists, however, are calling the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammys, for what they say is a lack of transparency in voting and diversity among nominees.

A singer, The Weeknd, has said he is now boycotting the annual awards ceremony after his latest album and latest single, “Blinding Lights”, were snubbed.

The Recording Academy chooses the nominations for the ceremony. But since 1995, final nominations in the “Big Four” categories – album of the year, song of the year, record of the year and best new artist – have been decided by a select committee, according to Billboard.

The outlet wrote in a 2020 article that the committee was created so that the final nominations in these categories were “more progressive” and “more musically adventurous.”

Several artists have challenged the process.

Zayn Malik posted a curse-filled tweet on Tuesday to slam the ceremony.

“F — the grammys and all associated. Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there is no consideration for the nomination. Next year I will send you a basket of sweets, ”he wrote.

“My tweet was not personal or about eligibility, but was about the need for inclusion and the lack of transparency in the nomination process and the space that creates and allows favoritism, racism and the politics of networking to influence the voting process, ”he added.

Rapper Nicki Minaj tweeted on November 24 – the day the nominations were announced – that she had been snubbed for Best New Artist of 2012.

“Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me the Best New Artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously on the billboard and a first week bigger than any female rapper during the last decade – continued to inspire a generation, “she said wrote. “They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.”

That same day, Teyana Taylor called the awards ceremony to have an all-male roster. “You better just say best male R&B album because all I see is — in that category,” she wrote.

Taylor, who released her third studio album titled “The Album” in June, received no nod.

In a statement to the New York Times on Thursday, The Weeknd said it “will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.” When asked why he was boycotting the Grammys, he told the newspaper it was “because of the secret committees.”

The singer, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, declined to comment further when contacted by NBC News on Friday.

The Weeknd, 31, has broken records in recent weeks. Billboard announced that “Blinding Lights” made history as the first song to spend a year in the Top 10 Hot 100. And The Weeknd also spent the third biggest week at No.1 on the Artist list. 100 since its launch in 2014, behind only Taylor Swift and Drake.

Last month he performed on one of the biggest stages when he was on the Super Bowl halftime show.

Despite the praise, The Weeknd did not receive a single nomination for this year’s Grammys.

Musicians aren’t the only ones calling out the Grammys. Deborah Dugan, who was fired last year as executive director of the Recording Academy, said the ceremony was “rigged” and clouded by conflicts of interest.

“I was so shocked when I got to the level of sexism and corruption I found at the Recording Academy,” Dugan told NBC News’s Kate Snow in an interview last year.

“There is a layer of corruption, self-trading and sexism that needs to go,” she added.

Dugan was suspended while the organization investigated allegations it created a “toxic” work environment with an “abusive and intimidating” management style. She denied the allegations during her interview with NBC.

Dugan filed a discrimination complaint against the Recording Academy. According to the New York Times, the case is in arbitration. Dugan did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday.