Report: The Grammys Gave The Weeknd An Ultimatum Before Snub

Reports say that the Grammys gave The Weeknd an ultimatum: perform at the Grammys or the Super Bowl prior to the nomination snub. According to TMZ, sources say that the singer-songwriter's team was in talks for weeks with the Grammys and both sides eventually came to an agreement where The Weeknd could do both shows but “not without negotiations getting very testy.”

Sources say that there is growing suspicion that The Weekend's decision to perform at the SuperBowl cost him Grammy nominations because the “bitter back-and-forth talks p*ssed off Grammy honchos.”

As for why the Grammys were playing hardball in trying to book The Weeknd exclusively, the site reported that it may be due to duplicate performances and the fact that the awards show and the SuperBowl is one week apart. Sources say that The Weeknd and his team “feel the dispute might have something to do with his exclusion.”

The site also reported that if the Weeknd did decide to perform at both events, it would be a huge deal. But, it looks like that may not happen since The Weeknd took to social media to respond to the snub. He tweeted, “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”

THE RECORDING ACADEMY SPEAKS ON THE WEEKND'S SNUB

Prior to The Weeknd's tweet, the Recording Academy's interim president and CEO Harvey Mason Jr. addressed the snub, stating that the decision came down to the number of votes and limited slots in each category.

He told Billboard, “For The Weeknd, in every year you only have a certain amount of people you can nominate for each category. … We are excited about some of the other categories where he was nominated. It’s never easy to tell where people are going to land.”

He later told Variety, “… All the records get the fairest of fair shakes. We listen to all the music — even an album, you’re listening to almost the whole album, it takes I don’t know how many hours,” he said. “It’s a long, arduous process and people take pride in it. The people in that room care: there's no agendas in there, there's no 'let's snub this person' or that person. It's about. 'Let’s try and find excellence.' Also, you have to remember that committee can't vote on something that's not there.”