The Weeknd’s Grammy snub: Recording Academy head says ‘it doesn’t affect us or offend us’

‘But regardless of how we get it, it’s important that we evaluate it and find out actionable steps on how to be better,’ Recording Academy CEO says

The Recording Academy’s heads have addressed the controversy around The Weeknd’s Grammy nomination snub in 2020.

In an interview with Billboard, CEO Harvey Mason Jr said: “When [artists] get upset, it doesn’t affect us or offend us,” referring to the “Blinding Lights” singer’s snub.

“It’s not distracting, it’s understandable. People that make music are passionate people inherently. These [projects] are their babies,” he said, as a reply to how his team responds to the backlash from artists and fans who feel wronged by the award’s selection process.

“Getting this right is the priority,” Mason Jr added, saying that it’s the Recording Academy’s priority to look at the music community’s input, despite the criticism.

“The perception of the academy and our process is important because it allows us to do the work that we want to do,” he said, adding: “Sometimes it might be nice not to hear it always in the press; maybe it’d be nice to get a phone call or a text.”

“But regardless of how we get it, it’s important that we evaluate it and find out actionable steps on how to be better.”

Mason Jr concluded by saying: “At the end of the day, when our members and our community say, ‘We’d like to look at something differently and we think there is a new way of doing this, it’s better,’ we listen, and we move.”

Speaking to Billboard last year, The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, addressed the Grammy nominations list, which failed to recognise him in any category.

“Look, I personally don’t care any more,” he said. “I have three Grammys, which mean nothing to me now, obviously. It’s not like, ‘Oh, I want the Grammy!’ It’s just that this happened... I suck at giving speeches anyways.”

He added: “Forget awards shows.”

Before the nominees were announced, the success of his No 1 album After Hours and its lead single, “Blinding Lights”, led many to consider him a frontrunner at the 2020 year’s ceremony.

Writing on Twitter after the snub, Tesfaye said: “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency.”

This year, Machine Gun Kelly also reacted to not being nominated for a Grammy award.

After realising that his fifth studio album Tickets To My Downfall had not earned him a single Grammy nomination, he simply tweeted: “wtf is wrong with the grammys.”