Fans and Celebs Call Out Grammys After Nomination Snubs for The Weeknd and BTS

Many aren’t happy with The Grammys after The Weeknd got zero nominations despite the record-breaking year he’s had, and they’re saying racism is to blame.

For yet another year, The Grammys are coming under fire for alleged racism and discrimination against musicians of color after major artists like The Weeknd and BTS are cheated out of award nominations. These accusations have been a running trend with the award show for years now, and both fans and celebrities have continued to speak out against what many are calling blatant racism.

People are stunned that The Weeknd isn’t up for any awards even though his album After Hours reached the top spot on many music charts worldwide. “Blinding Lights” is also the biggest song this year and has broken the record for the longest time ever spent in the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.

MAP OF THE SOUL 7 AND BLINDING LIGHTS WERE THE BIGGEST SNUB. BTS & THE WEEKND DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER

— ᴮᴱsoya⁷ (@kVantaesty) November 24, 2020

Many are also pointing out how white artists like Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa lead in nominations this year. Rapper Kid Cudi even put out a tweet saying The Weeknd was “robbed,” and Nicki Minaj recalled when the Best New Artist award was given to Bon Iver even though she had seven songs on the Billboard charts simultaneously and was continuously breaking records as a female rapper.

After Hours and The Weeknd deserved better. The blatant racism and robbery is outrageous.

Stream Blinding Lights. It’s still breaking the record for longest running song in the Billboard Top 10.

Since the Grammys want to snub Abel. We’ll keep him in their faces. pic.twitter.com/lHmnCbBHCf

— ً (@weekndlustt) November 24, 2020

Earlier this year, Tyler the Creator called out the Recording Academy for always putting Black artists in a rap or urban category even when their music falls outside of those genres, and he called his win for Best Rap Album a “backhanded compliment.” As a result, The Grammys renamed the Best Urban Contemporary Album category to Best Progressive R&B Album.

the grammys are blatantly racist and don’t even try to hide it. they always reserve pop categories for white artists and it will NEVER sit right with me. the weeknd is the artist, song, and album of the year pic.twitter.com/cXhWbHhn50

— zæ (@crueltrilogy) November 24, 2020

Just a few months ago, The Weeknd criticized The Grammys in his interview with Rolling Stone when asked about the new category. “R&B and Black music is such a wide variety. If they put us all into one category, I still think it’s not fair. We’ll see how it goes,” he said. He then expressed his frustration in the music industry for their silence following the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

the weeknd definitely pissed someone off at the grammys board bc there’s no way

— BP1 (@IaIisapinks) November 24, 2020

Black artists aren’t the only ones being excluded. Fans of K-pop group BTS are also expressing their frustrations after they were only nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their single “Dynamite.” More nominations were expected following the release of the group’s chart-topping album Map of the Soul: 7 and a successful year of breaking down barriers for Asian and non-English speaking artists.

dynamite did not break all those records for the grammys to snub them like this

— bts reaction⁷ (@btscraq) November 24, 2020

Many have decided to no longer watch The Grammys after the nominations announcement, and celebrities have been known to boycott them for several years. It has just been announced that Trevor Noah will be hosting the show, which is set for January 31 on CBS. In the meantime, be sure to view the full list of nominations here.