Spike Lee has weighed in on the Grammy Awards’ controversial resolution to award Harry Styles with Album of the Year over Beyoncé in a brand new interview.
The outspoken veteran director broached the subject throughout a characteristic interview with The Guardian. While he declined to touch upon a latest controversy surrounding the nomination of the movie To Leslie at this yr’s Oscars, author Nadia Khomami famous that Lee was “more forthcoming” when it got here to discussing the Grammys.
Lee pre-empted his feedback by admitting that he was “not the male president of the Bey Hive” – the long-standing nickname of Beyoncé’s fanbase. He did, nevertheless, “love and support” the singer.
“Her album [‘Renaissance’] is amazing,” he stated. “I know she’s won multiple Grammys, but four times nominated for album of the year and she’s lost every time? No disrespect to those artists like Adele or Harry Styles who won – it’s not their fault – but that’s some straight-up bullshit.”
Lee went on to notice the “history of great black artists” who’re nominated for prestigious awards and don’t win – certainly, Lee himself was nominated for each Best Picture and Best Director on the Oscars and the Golden Globes for the primary time in his profession for the 2019 movie BlacKkKlansman, however didn’t win at both.
“We all know their work is great, because art speaks for itself,” he stated. “But then it always comes down to this tricky territory of validation. Do black artists say ‘Fuck it’, or seek white validation and chase awards?”
Although Beyoncé didn’t win Album of the Year, she did win a number of awards all through the evening – together with Best Dance/Electronic Recording (for ‘Break My Soul’), Best Dance/Electronic Music Album (for ‘Renaissance’), Best Traditional R&B Performance (for ‘Plastic Off The Sofa’) and Best R&B Song (for ‘Cuff It’).
With this, Beyoncé’s whole Grammy wins throughout her profession got here to 32 – making her the most-awarded artist in Recording Academy historical past.