The 'Toosie Slide' rapper publicly voices his support to the 'Blinding Lights' hitmaker shortly after the latter branded the prestigious music awards 'corrupt' for failing to give him a single nomination.
- Nov 26, 2020
AceShowbiz - Drake has voiced his support for The Weeknd after the latter got snubbed at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Upon learning that the "Blinding Lights" hitmaker did not receive any nominations for the 63rd annual music awards, the "Toosie Slide" rapper suggested it is a "great time for somebody to start something new."
The 34-year-old offered his two cents on the drama via Instagram Story on Wednesday, November 25. "I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after," he began.
"It's like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just can't change their ways. The other day I said @TheWeeknd was a lock for either Album or Song of the Year along with reasonable assumptions and it just never goes that way," the MC continued. "This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come."
Drake's support came after The Weeknd and his latest album "After Hours" failed to land nods at the upcoming Grammys despite it being commercially successful. The Canadian star himself has called out the Recording Academy on Instagram and Twitter for the snub. "The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency," he declared in the Tuesday, November 24 posts.
The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Makkonen, additionally revealed that he was preparing a performance for the awards show, which had been scheduled a week before his half-time show at the 2021 Super Bowl. He tweeted, "Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not being invited? In my opinion zero nominations = you're not invited!"
Reacting to The Weeknd's jab, Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr. insisted that his lack of nominations had nothing to do with his upcoming Super Bowl gig. "We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated," he said in a statement. "I was surprised and can empathize with what he's feeling. His music this year was excellent, and his contributions to the music community and broader world are worthy of everyone's admiration."
"We were thrilled when we found out he would be performing at the upcoming Super Bowl and we would have loved to have him also perform on the Grammy stage the weekend before...unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists," he continued. "But as the only peer-voted music award, we will continue to recognize and celebrate excellence in music while shining a light on the many amazing artists that make up our global community."
Harvey concluded by stating, "To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd's performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process."
