Grammy Petition Aims To End ‘White Privilege’ With Awards, While Insulting Beck And Taylor Swift
From the archive: published Dec 16, 2015, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.
The Grammy Awards have become very diverse over the past 10 years. There will always be people who aren’t satisfied with the awards and nominations. However, a new petition at Change.org has accused the Grammys of exercising “white privilege” with the nominations. The mission statement is pretty harsh.
“The Grammys have constantly favored White artists over Black Artists. We saw this last year when Beck beat Beyoncé for Album of the Year. Beck has privilege; Beyoncé has real talent,” the opening of the petition claims.
“The Academy needs to learn that White artists like Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, and even Adele had everything handed to them because of their skin color, not their talent. Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, Drake, and Kanye West have to work extra hard for respect. Unfortunately, they aren’t getting any,” the petition continues, before asking for a boycott of the awards show that airs in February.
“Taylor Swift and Adele are products of White Privilege and no talent. Rihanna should have been nominated,” claims Joseph Sotelo of Chicago, Illinois.
“I don’t think these white people should decide who is nominated,” says Sharon Brooks of New York City.
There are many people who used the race issue in 2015 when Beck won for Album of the Year instead of Beyoncé. Even Kanye West got into the act, but was heavily criticized by Variety for his latest rant.
“What West doesn’t seem to understand is what he did Sunday night was appalling. He owes an apology to Beck and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, which should censure him for his disgraceful stunt.”
@rua_381 @nonoka_617 Beck is a racist for not giving his Grammy to Beonce…or ANY blk artist for that matter! BOW 2 da black man!
— Kappinoffsuckas (@bgbdwlf67) February 12, 2015
Beck won the Grammy over Beyonce. The Grammys are clearly racist. The ground is racist. The sky is racist. Basic stuff, try to keep up.
— Drew Anderson (@dwanderson6) February 10, 2015
Back in 2011, the Grammy Awards were accused of racism for cutting out many minority categories, including Latin Jazz. The Independent reported on the controversy.
“Nominations for the next round of Grammys, which will be announced this week, will be the most controversial in the award’s 50-year history, amid angry accusations of racism and insensitivity. Some of the most respected musicians in the world are demanding that the cut in the number of songs be reversed.”
Taylor Swift, the top Grammy nominee, has been a target for social justice warriors this year. She has been accused, by many, of racial insensitivity in her latest “Wildest Dreams ” video. If Taylor Swift wins the major categories, you can bet Twitter will light up with racial posts. Do you think the Grammy Awards are really racist? Let us know in the comments section.
