The Weeknd calls the Grammys 'corrupt' after nomination snub

It's been an extremely successful year for The Weeknd (all 2020 jokes aside), who won three big awards at the 2020 American Music Awards (see the full list of winners here) and recently announced that he's playing the Super Bowl halftime show (airing on CTV) the weekend following the Grammys. But during Tuesday's 2021 Grammy nominations, the Canadian singer was surprisingly missing from the list even though his hit "Blinding Lights" and chart-topping album After Hours were totally eligible this year. *Scratches head*

The Weeknd has received ten nods over three years and won three Grammys for Best R&B Performance for "Earned It" in 2016, Best Urban Contemporary Album for Beauty Behind the Madness in 2016 and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Starboy in 2018, so to see the singer receive zero nods this year — when we all have After Hours on repeat — is very confusing. What's even more confusing is that Kanye West received a nod for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album after urinating on a Grammy award earlier this year and posting the video on Twitter.

On Tuesday evening, The Weeknd voiced his opinion on the nomination shutout on Twitter, calling the Grammys "corrupt."

Fans of The Weeknd took to Twitter earlier in the day to voice their anger and irritation by this year's Grammy Awards snubbing the "In Your Eyes" singer.

After Hours by The Weeknd is one of the best and most cohesive albums in recent history and literally pioneered the revival of disco pop and wasn’t nominated ONCE by the grammys? pic.twitter.com/GvcwCWW7Bf

— c*rey reloaded: the re-up (@SNGSFORYOU) November 24, 2020

Rapper Kid Cudi even joined in on the conversation and said that The Weeknd was "robbed."

Following the 2021 Grammy nominations reveal, Justin Bieber, who was nominated in four categories, announced that he *actually* thought his album Changes should have been considered R&B. "I am very meticulous and intentional about my music. With that being said, I set out to make an R&B album. Changes was and is an R&B album. It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album which is very strange to me." The album was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album but Bieber "feels weird" that it isn't in the R&B category because "it is undeniably, unmistakably an R&B Album!" (His words... not ours).

Bieber's statement and nominations angered fans of The Weeknd even more.

Variety reached out to Recording Academy interim president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. to discuss the Canadian superstar's omission. “I don’t think [the Weeknd’s omission calls the nominations] process into question, honestly,” he said. “The process is there so we can continue to monitor excellence. I was in the ‘core room’ this year [which decides the main categories] and I observed, and the people in it are music professionals, at the top of their craft in songwriting and producing and there are a lot of artists. And they were critically listening to every song that came across their desks — or virtual desks — so I don’t think it shows a flaw in the process." He added that the "people in the room" don't have hidden agendas or think to snub any artists it's only about trying to "find excellence."

The real question here is: Did The Weeknd's label forget to submit After Hours for consideration officially? Republic, who also work with 2021 nominees Taylor Swift and Drake, have not released a statement on the snub yet, so we will have to wait and see what's really going on here.

The day before the Grammy nominations were announced, The Weeknd sent out a cryptic tweet, saying, "Just wanted to thank the fans for committing to this journey with me. I love you guys so much, none of this is possible without ya'll seriously. XO"

The best thing to do in this situation is to go stream After Hours and pretend this never happened.