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Drake has come to the defense of The Weeknd amid his Grammys snub, saying the awards show “may no longer matter.”
In a post to the rapper’s Instagram story on Wednesday, Drake sided with The Weeknd — who received zero nominations this year for his album “After Hours” — and suggested that there is a “disconnect” between the Grammys and the music making waves in the industry.
“I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after,” Drake wrote. “It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just can’t change their ways.”
He then mentioned his surprise when The Weeknd was snubbed, writing: “The other day I said @theweeknd was a lock for either album or song of the year along with countless other reasonable assumptions and it just never goes that way.”
Drake also called on future generations to make a change, suggesting that an alternative awards show is created. “This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come.”
In a separate story, Drake tagged Lil Baby, Pop Smoke, Party Next Door and Popcaan as artists who were not nominated but he believes should have been. “Too many missing names to even name…” Drake wrote.
After he received zero nominations on Tuesday, The Weeknd publicly accused the Grammys of corruption on Twitter.
“The Grammys remain corrupt,” he wrote. “You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”
Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason, jr. later responded to his claims, telling Variety: “Unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists. But as the only peer-voted music award, we will continue to recognize and celebrate excellence in music while shining a light on the many amazing artists that make up our global community.”