Kanye West threatens to boycott Grammys
Kanye West has threatened to boycott the Grammy Awards.
The ‘Famous’ rapper is furious that his friend Frank Ocean’s albums ‘Blonde’ and ‘Endless’ were not submitted for consideration for the upcoming ceremony, and has vowed not to show up to the prestigious event if his pal isn’t nominated for any awards.
Speaking on stage in Oakland, he said: "The album I listened to the most this year is Frank Ocean’s album.
"And I’ll tell you this right now: if his album’s not nominated in no categories, I’m not showing up to the Grammys. As artists, we gotta come together to fight the bulls**t they been throwing us with."
Kanye insists he wouldn’t care if Frank doesn’t win any awards, he just wants him to be in the running.
He added: "All we need is a fair shot. Let the album lose, let whoever win or lose. My whole point, my purpose, my existence, everything that people try to diss me for is based on just an instant replay plot. Imagine in sports they didn’t have no instant replay plot, and someone could step completely out of bounds."
Kanye insisted Grammys organizers could bend the rules for Frank if they wanted to, citing the fact Lady Gaga’s ‘The Fame’ was nominated for a string of awards in 2010, despite its release date making it eligible for prizes in the 2009 awards.
He fumed: "I don’t know if any of y’all remember, I was supposed to go on tour with [Lady] Gaga.
"I remember, it was something where she was nominated… She wasn’t nominated for best new artist, right? But they wanted her to perform at the show, they wanted her to open.
"So the Grammys secretly changed something about the nominations to nominate her in order for her to perform in the show.
"Now, Frank Ocean on the other hand is very vocal that his album wasn’t nominated for the Grammys. Since he’s vocal, no one wants to say nothing about it. No one wants to do nothing about it. I’m saying this to y’all, because a lot of people try to make a scene like, ‘I’m so self-centered.’ "
It is unclear whether there was an oversight by Frank’s team or if there was never an intention to submit either of the records for a potential Grammy prize.
A rep for Frank confirmed that the records were not submitted for consideration.
