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Drake questions Grammys for The Weeknd’s snub, fans slam him for double standards: 'Why are women not mentioned?

Drake shared a few stories on Instagram where one of the stories had a lengthy post referring to the relevance of the Grammys

Hip-hop stalwart Drake, who has won four Grammys out of 47 nods in his decade long music career, has come forward to address the on-going controversy surrounding the Recording Academy. The Grammys are currently facing a lot of heat from various artists including The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj, Teyana Taylor and others for snubbing them and speaking on the same lines, the Toronto rapper took to his official Instagram account to weigh-in on the matter.

While questioning the relevance of the Grammys, the 34-year-old rapper shared a few stories with his 72 million followers on Instagram where one of the stories had a lengthy post on the current Grammys controversy. “I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artist that exist now and the ones that come after. “

He further asserted, “It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just won’t change their ways. The other day I said @theweeknd was a lock for either album or song of the year along with countless other reasonable assumptions and it just never goes that way. This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up overtime and pass on to the generations to come.” 

Drake also posted another story where he mentioned other artists who got snubbed at the 63rd Grammys like Lil Baby, Partynextdoor, Popcaan, and the late Pop Smoke writing, “too many missing names to even name.” The Internet was quick to react to Drake’s Instagram stories where he got slammed for double standards. Speaking on the same lines, one user pointed out, “Notice how everyone agrees with the men immediately but when the woman said it, it was a problem. Double standards me thinks.” One user posted, “He has a point but why are women not mentioned?” Another added, “They've lost their relevance since but y'all kept them relevant and make it seem that they're still important in music because every year you submit your work in hopes of having a nom or a win. Y'all keep saying this for yrs but still anticipate for them, artists should boycott.” One user stated, “I agree 100% with drake.. the Grammys are overrated. We rely too much on award ceremonies that continue to count black people out... it’s only 60 years old. start something new that will one day be as big & influential.”

Minaj, who had also called out the Grammys for getting robbed of Best New Artist in 2012, also reposted Drake’s story as a screenshot to her official Instagram account. For the unversed, Drake has scored two nominations at the 63rd Grammys including Best Music Video for ‘Life is Good’ along with rapper Future and Best Rap/Sung Performance for his track ‘Laugh Now Cry Later.’

The Weeknd received zero nominations in the upcoming Grammys despite having one of the biggest chart hits of the year with his album ‘After Hours.’ He broke his silence hours after the nominations where he slammed the Grammys for being corrupt and demanded transparency. He tweeted, “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency…”

Reverting to the singer’s claim, the Recording Academy's interim president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. then released a subsequent statement insisting there was no scheme against The Weeknd, as published by Complex. He also addressed the rumours that the R&B icon was snubbed due to tense discussions regarding his upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance.

Harvey’s official statement read, “We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated. 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. 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. 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.”