In a legal complaint, she accused the academy of voting improprieties and rampant conflicts of interest. The academy said she mistreated an employee, but Dugan said she was retaliated against for criticizing the institution. They come after a bruising conflict with the academy’s last chief, Deborah Dugan, who was brought in as a change agent yet dismissed after five months on the job - and just days before last year’s ceremony. After last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, major record companies, broadcasters and streaming platforms pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in donations and said they would work to make the music world more inclusive and equitable.īut the Grammys are an especially public target, and whether the academy’s moves will satisfy its critics is unclear. The Grammys are not alone in promising to change. “The changes have been transformative,” Mason said in an interview. Pre-Grammy events this week have included “Women in the Mix,” highlighting women in production and engineering fields, and a gathering of the Black Music Collective, a new advisory group that aims to “amplify Black voices.” The four pop categories, for example, have no such committees.Īs part of its efforts to change, the academy has invited thousands of new members, hired a diversity officer and brought more women and people of color into its committees and leadership.
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And this year, as in past years, we are going to take a hard look at how to improve our awards process, including the nomination review committees.”Įven though this process is publicly disclosed, it is still largely not understood by the music world. “But I will say that we are constantly evolving. “We’re all disappointed when anyone is upset,” Mason said in response to the Weeknd’s statement. In late 2019, a task force led by Tina Tchen, the former chief of staff for Michelle Obama - which was convened after an outcry over the representation of women at the awards - made a number of recommendations to help diversify the institution most are being implemented. Harvey Mason Jr., a producer and songwriter who is the academy’s interim chief executive, said the organization is dedicated to improving itself. In 2017, her album “Lemonade” lost all the major contests to Adele in recent years, releases by Frank Ocean and Kendrick Lamar were similarly passed over, leading observers to predict that Black stars would lose faith in the Grammys’ ability to honor their work. Beyoncé is not an announced performer for this Sunday’s event. Yet the Grammys’ poor record of recognizing people of color in the top awards - the last Black artist to take album of the year was Herbie Hancock in 2008, for a tribute to Joni Mitchell, and the last Black woman was Lauryn Hill in 1999 - has alienated a crucial constituency.