American filmmaker Spike Lee, a leading cultural figure in the movie industry, has some things to say about the awarding system, particularly Beyoncé not getting the Grammys Album of the Year award – again.
This comes in the wake of the prominent songstress’ husband, Jay-Z calling out the Grammys for failing to acknowledge her fairly in spite of her record-breaking feats in the industry.
Spike Lee Says Beyoncé Losing The Grammys AOTY Is ‘Some Straight-up Bullsh*t’
Beyoncé was nominated for this year’s Grammys Album of the Year award for her latest album, “Renaissance,” but lost to Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House,” which did not sit well with Lee.
The Atlanta-born filmmaker may not be the “male president of the Bey Hive” – Beyoncé’s fanbase, but he appears to be a huge fan as he expressed, “I love and support Beyoncé. Her album is amazing.” Per The Guardian, he noted that while she has won numerous Grammys, she has also been nominated four times for Album of the Year and never won.
“No disrespect to those artists like Adele or Harry Styles who won,” he said. “It’s not their fault, but that’s some straight-up bullsh*t.”
The 65-year-old then pointed to the “history of black artists” who are nominated for awards but lose every time despite their outstanding work. In his words, “There’s a history of great black artists who come up for these awards and don’t win. We all know their work is great, because art speaks for itself.”
Even with their work speaking for itself, the renowned director believes it always boiled down to “this tricky territory of validation” where Black artists either say “f**k it or seek white validation and chase awards.”
Hailing Beyoncé for her excellence and calling out the Grammys, he exclaimed: “I just want to give a shoutout to my sister Beyoncé. We know what the deal is. It’s straight-up shenanigans, skulduggery, subterfuge. Or as the British say: it’s some poppycock!”
Lee, who is certain he is on the “right side of history,” further explained that the difficulty of artists voicing out depended on who they talked to, as he had learned that one has to “speak truth to power.”
Although he felt it was an “individual choice,” he also noted that there were moments with consequences when one had to choose between speaking out or staying silent.
Speaking truth to power has never been a burden to the Academy Award winner as he never tried to place himself as a representative of all Black people but always maintained that it was his own opinion. Echoing his mother’s words, emphasizing the diversity of the black race, which he took to heart, he recalled:
“Spike, we, as Black people, are not one monolithic group. We don’t look alike, talk alike, think alike. We’re very diverse. From many different backgrounds.”
Jay-Z Had This To Say About Beyoncé’s Loss
The “She’s Gotta Have it” director isn’t the only one who had something to say about Styles winning the award over Queen Bey.
It came as a shock to many when Styles took home the Album of the Year award, including the “Halo” singer’s partner, Jay-Z, who spoke out about her past successful awards ahead of the ceremony. In an interview with Tidal, Hov, as he is fondly called, stressed the losses Beyoncé had suffered in the same category for her highly successful “Beyonce” and “Lemonade” albums.
“Oh, I felt like they missed the moment,” he declared. “Even with Bey, I felt like they missed the moment. Not just LEMONADE; [also] when Beck won over her [for Album of the Year at the 2015 show]. I was like, Oh, y’all missed it.”
He believed her “Renaissance” album deserved the win and wanted the Grammys to get it right as they did with Stevie Wonder, who consecutively won three out of four years. Shedding light on why he felt his sweetheart’s album deserved the win, he noted that it had impacted the culture and the world’s energy with inspiration.
Additionally, the 53-year-old declared, “When it just inspires creativity, that’s an album. That has to be Album of the Year. It has to be.”
Harry Styles’ Album Of The Year Win At The Grammys Riled The Beyhive
Winning the Album of the Year award at the Grammys was a massive win for Styles, who was nominated among significant players like Adele, ABBA, Mary J. Blige, Bad Bunny, Coldplay – and, of course, Beyoncé.
The “As It Was” singer gave a heartfelt speech beginning with “This doesn’t happen to people like me very often” which outraged the Bey Hive as they took to social media to bash him. A critic remarked, “I’m trying to understand what that white boy meant by ‘this doesn’t happen for people like me’????”
Another wanted Styles to explain the identity he used for the speech after noting that Beyoncé was the first Black woman in the category since 1999 who could have won.
