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AMAs 2020: Was Twenty One Pilots canceled? Band wins Favorite Artist in Alternative Rock after ‘their fans left’

In September, band member Tyler Joseph was ‘canceled’ after he made a joke about using social media platforms to speak up about Black Lives Matter movement

The 2020 American Music Awards has arrived to up the ante in the world of music. Opening with some power-packed performances with supremely talented Taraji P Henson as host, the ceremony bestowed honors on the most iconic artistes in pop-rock, alternative, country, hip-hop, rap and many other categories. Twenty One Pilots won the award for Favorite Artist in Alternative Rock. The nominees for this category also had Billie Eilish and Tame Impala.

It is no wonder why Twenty One Pilots won the award as the musical duo gained a record-breaking success with hits like ‘Vessel’, ‘Blurryface’ and singles like ‘Stressed Out’ and ‘Ride’. The band's musical style defined by elements of alternative hip hop, electropop, indie pop and rap got the fans gaga over the Internet.

However, some fans noted that their win came on the heels of band member Tyler Joseph getting "canceled" in September 2020. This came after he made a joke about using social media “platforms” to speak up about Black Lives Matter and other issues. In the now-deleted tweet of September, Tyler posted two photos of himself wearing large white platform shoes. In the first image, Tyler was standing tall and facing the camera at an angle to show off the tall white shoe while in the other he was squatting down, pretending to tie the laces of the large white platform shoes. He tweeted, "you guys keep asking me to use my platforms. feels good to dust these bad boys off”, which irked many on the Internet who canceled him saying he mocked serious issues like BLM.

A user wrote after the band’s win in AMA, “Twenty-one pilots can't win jack shit when their fanbase is popping but suddenly they can win shit after they got canceled and all their fans left.” Another concurred, “Did I not get the memo that Twenty One Pilots was canceled?” A user wrote about his win against Billie, “when twenty-one pilots win an award after this year's events but Billie doesn’t LOL,, Billie stans we need to wake up LOLLLLLLL”. A user was elated over the win, “Congratulations to Twenty One Pilots for winning their nomination for Best Alternative at the 2020 #AMAs. A much-deserved win!”

For the unversed, the American Music Awards are based on fan interactions that include streaming, album and digital song sales, radio airplay, social activity and touring by the artistes in various categories. The awards were held amid Covid-19 induced restrictions due to which there were very few members in the audience and poster cutouts of stars dominated on the front seats of the venue. The crew members in the awards had worn masks and followed the Covid-19 protocol. Coming to the performances the dancing members are required to have facial masks on during the acts while the lead artistes had PPE on when not on the stage.

The American Music Awards 2020 aired on Sunday, November 22, at 8 pm EST/PST on ABC.