Terrence 'Punch' Henderson, who is the co-president of Top Dawg Entertainment, also reveals that he called MTV about the snub, but they reportedly 'couldn't give a clear answer' as to why SZA wasn't nominated.
- September 16, 2023
AceShowbiz - SZA was supposed to perform at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, but the gig was canceled as she skipped the show. Now, in a new interview, her manager revealed that the cancellation had something to do with the Artist of the Year snub.
"Obviously, she had one of the best years, if not the best year, of any artist at this point. I don't see why she wouldn't be nominated for artist of the year. It just really didn't make any sense to me," Terrence "Punch" Henderson told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's disrespectful."
Punch, who is the co-president of Top Dawg Entertainment, said he called MTV about the snub, but they reportedly "couldn't give a clear answer as to why she wasn't [nominated]." He further recalled, "It was just, 'Well, she's nominated for all these other [awards].' "
"And they ended up saying, 'OK, well we could do another call' because there were people on [the call] about logistics for the show who didn't have anything to do with [the nominations]," Punch continued. "When we tried to set up the second call, they didn't want to discuss artist of the year, which to me was really a slap in the face."
Among those nominated for Artist of the Year were Beyonce Knowles, Nicki Minaj, Karol G, Shakira, Doja Cat and Taylor Swift. The latter ended up winning the prize at the Tuesday, September 12 ceremony, as well as awards for Video of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop, Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects all for "Anti-Hero", Album of the Year for "Midnights" and Show of the Summer.
As for SZA, she scored eight nominations in total. They included Video of the Year for "Kill Bill", Album of the Year for "SOS" and Best R&B for "Shirt", the latter of which she won.
