Frank Ocean Has Slammed The Producers Of The Grammys In A Fiery Tumblr Post
"If you’re up for a discussion about the cultural bias and general nerve damage the show you produce suffers from then I’m all for it."
Frank Ocean has hit back at criticism by Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich and writer David Wild by slamming the music awards for their “cultural bias” and accusing the show of putting audiences to sleep.
Ocean had previously declared his intention to skip this year’s Grammy ceremony, telling The New York Times that the awards were “dated” and that they often failed to represent “people who come from where I come from.”
But in a joint interview published yesterday, Ehrlich and Wild speculated that Ocean’s decision to boycott may have more to do with his poorly received performance at the awards in 2013.
“We executed his vision knowing that it was faulty. And we tried to tell him that,” Wild told Rolling Stone. “So, his feelings about the Grammys right now, I would imagine, probably go back to that in one way.”
But these remarks did not go down well with Ocean, who responded with an almighty spray on Tumblr.
“Don’t you think I would’ve wanted to play the show to ‘redeem’ myself if I felt that way?” he asked.
“In reality, I actually wanted to participate in honoring Prince on the show but then I figured my best tribute to that man’s legacy would be to continue to be myself out here and to be successful,” Ocean continued. “Winning a TV award doesn’t christen me successful. It took me some time to learn that. I bought all my masters back last year in the prime of my career, that’s successful. Blonde sold a million plus without a label, that’s successful. I am young, black, gifted and independent. That’s my tribute.”
Ocean pointed to Taylor Swift’s 1989 beating out Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly last year as evidence that the Grammys were “faulty”. He also said that music fans would “rather watch select performances from your program on YouTube the day after because your show puts them to sleep.”
When Frank Ocean DRAGS the Grammys and Taylor Swift at the same time pic.twitter.com/OIqmwSv70B
— Stephen Williams (@AmericanBoy) February 12, 2017
“Use the old gramophone to actually listen bro, I’m one of the best alive,” Ocean concluded. “If you’re up for a discussion about the cultural bias and general nerve damage the show you produce suffers from then I’m all for it. Have a good night.”