Really? Maurice White & Natalie Cole Getting Duped At Grammys, Details

Posted On : February 13, 2016

fb maurice and natalie grammysHere we go again, yet another awards show, The Grammy Awards, is said to be on track to follow in the footsteps of the Academy Awards, as far as diversity goes. Sure the Grammy’s have more diversity within some of their categories than the Oscars does this year, but according to sources at PageSix, the Grammy’s have decided to do performance tributes only to White entertainers who passed away this year and they have grouped everyone else- including the iconic Natalie Cole and Maurice White- into a video collage that will probably give the deceased entertainers less than 3-4 seconds of tribute time, if they’re lucky. Here is what was reported about the Black-out at this years Grammys RIP tribute:

Could the Grammy Awards have their own race problem? The show is coming under huge pressure to diversify its all-white tribute lineup and honor the late Maurice White.

During Monday’s telecast, Lady Gaga will perform an eight-minute David Bowie tribute, Jackson Browne will honor Glenn Frey and Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp are expected to perform a tribute for Lemmy from Motörhead.

David Bowie
David Bowie

But industry insiders are griping that White, of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, and Natalie Cole have been banished to a video tribute package with others who died in the past year.

“Over the last week or so, since Maurice White passed away, there has been back and forth with the producers and the academy about some kind of representation of him during the show. The tributes they’ve confirmed are all white. As of yesterday, there was no tribute at all for Maurice because Grammy producers said they didn’t have time,” one insider told us.

To make matters worse, Run-DMC will receive a lifetime achievement award — but it won’t be televised. “People are afraid to speak on it because it’s the Grammys. But there’s a history of them not acknowledging black artists,” the first source added.

We all know that this type of thing has been going on for years and it’s very unfortunate. While it’s always great for entertainers to be recognized for their hard work, it is even more rewarding to stand up against oppression and not constantly stand on the outside of the window waiting for crumbs to be discarded out of it. Or as Taraji so eloquently put it at this year’s NAACP Awards: “We don’t need to ask for ask for acceptance from ANYONE. WE are enough.”

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