The 62nd Grammy Awards were on Jan. 26, and many people were upset and frustrated at the outcomes and snubs. Days before the award show, the Grammys were hit with a scandal—a 46-page lawsuit filed by their CEO and President, Deborah Dugan, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Dugan alleges she was unfairly put on administrative leave after she questioned several concerning incidents involving the Grammys. These incidents include sexual harassment towards Dugan from Joel Katz, who is a former member and chair of the Academy’s board of trustees, sexual assault of a foreign recording artist by former Grammys CEO Neil Portnow, corruption in the Grammy nomination and voting process and excessive spending and conflicts of interest.
A representative for the Grammys heavily denied these accusations, and they questioned why Dugan is bringing them up now if they supposedly happened several months ago. This seems like a clear attempt at deflection. People often question the timing of sexual assault allegations, even though the accuser has little to gain by bringing them up now instead of when they occurred. It is an argument that ignores how there are systematic barriers in place that keep victims from speaking out and protect powerful people who have abused their authority.
These scandals paint the Grammys in a very negative light. The Grammys were already struggling, with viewership this year reaching 18.7 million—the lowest it has been since 2008 when the viewership was only 17.18 million. In what seems like a desperate grab for views, the Grammys has gotten the K-pop group BTS to appear at the award show the past two years despite no nominations, a clear attempt to use the group’s huge fanbase to their advantage. But gimmicks and special performers mean nothing if the artists who truly deserve awards for their music are not receiving them.
On social media, many have come to think of the Grammys as unfair and rigged towards certain artists. These viewpoints are only amplified by Dugan’s assertions of voting corruption. The accusation claims that after the 21,000-person Academy votes on nominations, “secret committees” made up largely of members of the Academy’s board of trustees narrow down the nominations. The board members are frequently representatives for specific artists, unfairly swaying the nominations in their favor.
The lawsuit mentions a specific incident where “an unnamed artist ranked near the bottom of potential nominees for Song of the Year allegedly sat in on the category’s nominating-committee meeting along with a board member who represented them.” Because of this, the artist earned the nomination despite their low rank, beating out many of the higher-ranking artists.
This type of clear favoritism leaves a bitter taste in one’s mouth. To have a clearly undeserving artist steal the spot of a higher-ranking artist is frustrating. Good music, talented artistry and hard work is not what is being rewarded—money and connections are.
The Grammys do not seem to have a set criteria for what makes an artist, song or album eligible for each category. They do not specify whether something or someone is nominated due to sales, chart rankings or sheer artistry. But these accusations of corruption say everything that needs to be said—the only set criteria the Grammys have are whether or not an artist can buy or influence their way into a spot.
It is no surprise that the Grammys may have secretly had scandals going on behind the scenes. But it appears that they are still oblivious to how they are digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole. The discontent among fans of artists who feel they were unfairly snubbed is one thing, but these accusations mean that the fans were correct in their assumptions that the Grammys are rigged.
If the Grammys really want to improve their reputation and viewership, they would stop wasting energy denying these accusations and work towards actually solving the corruption within their organization.
