The Weeknd slams Grammys as ‘corrupt’ as he says Academy ‘owes him’ after singer walks away with zero nominations
THE Weeknd has slammed what he dubbed the "corrupt" Grammys and insisted they "owe him" after he was snubbed in this year's nominations list.
The three-time Grammy winner, 30, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: "The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…"
According to , the performer, who had the best-selling track of 2020, was attempting to find a way he could perform at both the Grammys and .
However, negotiations were rough, and while a deal was reached where the Weeknd - real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye - could perform at both events, the process of it all may have cost him nominations.
An insider told the outlet that "there's growing suspicion Abel's decision to perform at this year's Super Bowl cost him Grammy noms because the bitter back-and-forth talks pissed off Grammy honchos."
But after the Blinding Lights singer's rant, the Recording Academy’s interim president and CEO Harvey Mason Jr denied there was a conspiracy to keep him from being nominated.
After stating it's hard to predict the voters’ decisions, Harvey told the : “You know, there’s so many nominations and there’s only so many slots, it’s really tough to predict what the voters are going to vote for in any given year. I try not to be too surprised.”
Harvey also released a after the musician slammed the academy, explaining some that “unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists.”
He continued: “We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated. I was surprised and can empathize with what he’s feeling."
The singer's latest album After Hours featuring the smash hit Blinding Lights has received rave reviews.
This past Sunday, when he took to the stage with his.
His followers also saw him with a bloodied face for the 2020 MTV VMAs and before that, in his music video for Blinding Lights.
wasn't the only star who was didn't receive much attention from the Grammys as Roddy Rich and Lil Baby also didn't get kudos.
And while Justin Bieber's received a nomination for , he made sure to also express how he felt about the situation.
He wrote on : "I set out to make an R&B album. Changes was, and is, a R&B album. It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album which is very strange to me.
added: "Please don’t mistake this as me being ungrateful, these are just my thoughts take em or leave em.
"Thank you to the people who fought for me to even have any noms."
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The Grammys chaos comes just two months after Kanye West, who was for Jesus Is King, .
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The now infamous tweet came after the controversial rapper put record label Universal on blast, alleging he had signed over 10 contracts with the label and that they had tried to "bury him alive."
Kanye's rival Taylor Swift was nominated six times for her album Folklore.