The Weeknd says he will boycott Grammy awards following nominations snub

New York: Rapper Weeknd has said that he will boycott the Grammy Awards and won't submit his work for consideration after his album 'After Hours' and hit single 'Blinding Lights' were snubbed in the 2021 nominations. The singer, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, blamed the 'secret committees' at Grammys for the snub. "Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys," the Canadian singer said in a statement to The New York Times.

Soon after the nomination were announced in November, the singer tweeted, "The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency."

Weeknd was in talks with the Grammys for a performance at the ceremony when he got to know that he had not received any nominations despite the chart-breaking success of his single 'Blinding Lights'.

He played the Super Bowl halftime show last month, which was initially scheduled to take place a week after Grammys on January 31 but the music awards were postponed to March 14 due to the pandemic. The committees that Weeknd mentioned in the statement are anonymous expert committees, who have a considerable heft in influencing the 61 of the 84 Grammy categories.

The Recording Academy, the non-profit group which organises the ceremony believes these committees help preserve integrity but the artistes like Weeknd believe otherwise. There was also speculation that the Recording Academy did not want the musician to perform at both the events, which may have led to him being snubbed at the nominations but Grammy chief Harvey Mason jr had dismissed the claim.