At the Grammys on Sunday, a great crime against humanity occurred with all the world watching: Adele won the top Grammys, leaving Beyonce – the Greatest Human Being Who Has Ever Graced Our Planet™ — out in the cold. Again.
Why?
Racism, of course!
Never mind that Adele’s 25 was the top-selling album of the year, while Beyonce’s Lemonade showed up at #4. Adele had to apologize to Beyonce for winning the album of the year, then split her Grammy in half, stating, “I can’t possibly accept this award…the Lemonade album was just so monumental.”
Yes, Lemonade is groundbreaking, Beethoven-esque, a work of heartbreaking genius which with only heaven – or Heaven’s Angel™ — could have seen fit to grace us. Who else but Queen Bey could have give us these immortal lines: “Y’all haters corny with that Illuminati mess / Paparazzi, catch my fly and my cocky fresh.” The echoes of Shakespeare ring in every lyric.
So, why wouldn’t artists of color naturally assume that Adele’s victory at the Grammys represents a new form of Jim Crow? Here’s The New York Times:
Before the 59th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, the music industry murmured about what it might mean for Adele to once again sweep the top awards, leaving Beyoncé snubbed in the major categories and with her third loss for album of the year. Having long faced accusations that the Grammys overlook young, progressive black artists — the last black woman to win album of the year was Lauryn Hill in 1999 — the Recording Academy faced a potential backlash for going all-in on a white, traditionalist choice like Adele….. In the last five years especially, albums by Mr. Ocean, Mr. Lamar and Beyoncé have been passed over for the top award in favor of releases by white artists: Mumford & Sons, Daft Punk, Beck, Taylor Swift and Adele.
So now the Grammys are just another repository of white racism. Because it’s not enough that everyone in the music industry must pay tribute to Beyonce; it’s not enough for the top-selling artist on the planet to bow before Beyonce as is required under international law. No, the Grammys must be boycotted until they recognize that incredibly rich, world famous black people have to win awards. Otherwise, they’re just Bull Connors of Hollywood.
Does anyone wonder why our culture is falling apart? Why the social fabric is fraying? We can’t even listen to music or watch a silly music awards show without being hit with Colin Kaepernick-esque lectures on the legacies of slavery – even while the whole world falls prostrate before the glories of JuJu, celebrating ancient fertility rituals re-enacted onstage as New Testament living tableaus.
Yes, clearly Hollywood has a problem.
But it isn’t racism.
It’s race-based stupidity.