Responding to criticism over the nods to the controversial artists, CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stresses that officials will not look back at anyone's 'history' when making their decisions.
- November 25, 2021
AceShowbiz - The head of the Recording Academy has defended the 2022 Grammy Award nominations earned by controversial artists like rocker Marilyn Manson and comedians Dave Chappelle and Louis C.K.
CEO Harvey Mason Jr. has responded to criticism over the nods received by "The Dope Show" hitmaker, who has been accused of sexual assault and abuse by several past girlfriends, and the funnymen, noting officials at the academy behind the prizegiving do not consider anyone's "history" when making their decisions.
"We won't restrict the people who can submit their material for consideration. We won't look back at people's history, we won't look at their criminal record, we won't look at anything other than the legality within our rules of, is this recording for this work eligible based on date and other criteria. If it is, they can submit for consideration," Mason told TheWrap shortly after the nominations were announced on Tuesday, November 23.
But he explained not all nominees are automatically invited to attend the live show.
"What we will control is our stages, our shows, our events, our red carpets. We'll take a look at anyone who is asking to be a part of that, asking to be in attendance, and we'll make our decisions at that point. But we're not going to be in the business of restricting people from submitting their work for our voters to decide on."
Manson, real name Brian Warner, received two nods for his contributions to Kanye West's "Donda", which was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Rap Song for the track "Jail".
The "Killing Strangers" singer has called the accusations against him "horrible distortions of reality."
"Sincerely Louis CK" was nominated for Best Comedy Album. The disgraced stand-up star admitted to sexual misconduct in 2017 and the 2020 special was his first since the accusations were leveled.
Meanwhile, Chappelle, who has received backlash for transphobic comments made in his 2021 Netflix stand-up special "The Closer", was nominated in the Best Spoken Word category alongside poet Amir Sulaiman for his work in the 2020 short stand-up segment "8:46", which addresses the death of George Floyd at the hands of police earlier that year.
