A nightmare week for the Grammys continues to get worse.
Sean “Diddy” Combs used a fiery speech to drop a bomb on the Recording Academy Saturday night, calling out the controversial organization for repeatedly shunning black artists from many of the Grammy’s major categories.
“I’m being honored by the industry that I love, the family that I love, but there’s an elephant in the room and it’s not just about the Grammys,” Diddy said after receiving the Industry Icon Honor at Clive Davis’s annual pre-Grammy gala. “There’s discrimination and injustice everywhere.”
The music mogul used his passionate 45-minute speech to demand change in an academy that has become embroiled in accusations of shady activity and diversity issues in recent weeks, sparking a rousing standing ovation from the gala’s A-list audience.
“Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys,” Combs continued. “Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point it should be.”
The comments come on the heels of scathing allegations from former Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan last week, claiming the Grammys are rigged and ripe with sexism and racial discrimination.
Since the inception of the Grammys in 1957, only ten black artists have received the award for “Album of the Year.”
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“So right now with this current situation, it’s not a revelation. This thing been going on, and it’s not just going on in music, it’s going on in film, it’s going on in sports, it’s going around the world,” Diddy said. “And for years we’ve allowed institutions that have never had our best interest at heart to judge us. And that stops right now.”
The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards is scheduled to premiere Sunday, January 26 at 8 p.m. EST.
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