Ariana Grande, The Weeknd Caught In The Middle Of Republic Records Battle
Ariana Grande and The Weeknd are caught in the middle of some drama. The artists aren’t at war with each other. In fact, the drama involves their label, Republic Records.
The Weeknd and Ariana Grande have been caught in the middle thanks to Canadian broadcaster Rob Farina. In an email titled “URGENT LETTER TO CANADIAN BROADCASTERS,” he accused Republic Records of favoritism when it comes to their popular artists. Farina owns Rogers Media and he asking all other Canadian broadcasters to boycott all of the label’s artists, including Florence and the Machine, Jessie J, and Nicki Minaj, along with The Weeknd and Ariana Grande. You can read the full letter here.
It all started when Canadian broadcaster Rob Farina submitted a letter explaining the favoritism among the artists signed to the label. The Rogers Media executive claimed that competing label Bell Media received more opportunities for exclusive content, but only for particular artists. One of the opportunities was a nightclub show headlined by Ariana Grande and The Weeknd. He also said that the company bypassed promotional rules through Universal Music Canada and sidestepped promotional procedures.
“It never went there. The issue was resolved swiftly. We have no further comment.”
Bell Media Radio’s Vice President of programming David Corey says that there was no letter involved.
“Everything that Rob said in his email [letter] is completely incorrect and not the way that things have gone down. I’m the one that booked The Weeknd show for Virgin Radio, way before Randy Lennox came over from Universal. I booked that through Abel [Tesfaye, AKA The Weeknd] and through [manager Tony] Sal because I have relationships with him.”
Corey says that he booked the show four months before Lennox was planning to leave Universal for Bell Media.
“The Ariana Grande special… that was booked through Premiere, a company out of the U.S. that is owned by iHeartMedia. We own Orbyt, which does shows with Premiere all the time, so that came to us through the proper channels. It was not Randy Lennox; it was not Charlie Walk; it was not Universal Republic.”
The companies have since apologized to each other for the email drama, according to multiple outlets. But Farina has pointed out the relationships among Corey and others, which have led to the idea that favoritism among artists is common in the music industry.
Meanwhile, Ariana Grande is receiving backlash from radio host Jonathan Ross. He reportedly called the singer a “lazy little f***er” on air after she cancelled her appearance on his show over the weekend. Grande was scheduled to perform on the Jonathan Ross Show, which aired on Saturday, November 7, and was scheduled two days in advance. Other guests on the show included Danny DeVito, Joan Collins, and Sheridan Smith.
According to the NME report, Ariana Grande has been having a horrible week. She criticized a radio DJ host for his misogynistic and homophobic questions when he asked her about emojis, makeup, and mobile phones rather than her music. Grande was annoyed by the questions and claimed that the radio hosts asked questions on what they think “girls like.” She has since been seen making appearance for her debut fragrance and attending a meet and greet during her trip to Europe.
Ariana Grande told Eric D-Lux that he needs “a little brushing up” on equality. Watch the full interview in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACN9NU9WYfo
Earlier this year, the singer made waves on social media when she wrote an essay on sexism following her split from Big Sean. In Grande’s message, she addressed the misogyny in the industry and said that she doesn’t want to be referred to as Big Sean’s ex or Niall Horan’s possible girlfriend.
[Photos by Tommaso Boddi / Getty Images for Republic Records Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images]
