Last month, the Grammy Awards announced five new categories: Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Best Traditional Folk Album, Best Latin Song, and Best Asian Pop Music Performance.
One of those categories is not like the others.
Anyone can participate in an R&B Collaboration, a traditional pop vocal performance, a traditional folk album, and sing a Latin song. But in order to qualify for Best Asian Pop Music Performance … what? Obviously you must be Asian.
The Korean supergroup BTS looked at this new category and knew exactly what the Grammys were doing — creating a ghetto for Asian artists. In protest, BTS announced on Wednesday that the seven-member group will snub the Grammys by not submitting their music for any kind of Grammy consideration.
“We decided not to submit to the Grammys this year,” all seven wrote across social media. “We want music to be heard and loved for what it is, rather than categorized by region or language. Thank you to ARMY and everyone who is always with us.”
BTS is not some fly-by-night group. In 2021, they became the first k-pop group to score a Grammy nomination. Everyone in the group is a member of the Recording Academy. They have performed at the Grammys. And now the Grammys have stabbed them, along with all Asian pop artists in the back with an affirmative-action Grammy that is obviously meant to remove them from consideration for the primary Grammys.
Why would the Grammys do this?
Look at all the Grammy categories. The only other category that comes close to this is Best African Music Performance. But Paul Simon has recorded and performed African music, and “African Music” is a pretty broad category. It could mean any kind of African music. The “pop” part of “Asian Pop” is hyper-specific and screams of the Grammys rigging the game to ensure no Asian pop group wins one of the broader and more coveted Grammy Awards.
I’m just going to go ahead and say what I think is happening here… And that’s one more manifestation of the political left’s ongoing hatred, bigotry, and desire to erase Asian accomplishments. Here we see a wildly popular musical group who happens to be one of the primary movers behind the increasingly popular K-pop genre. But what else do we see? After more than 30 years, rap is finally running out of gas.
This reminds me of our corrupt university system where Asians are openly discriminated against to make room for students of other races who are far less qualified.
There’s a resentment on the left towards Asians, and I think that comes from the fact that they are not white and still manage to succeed, frequently at rates that beat whites, which kills all the racial excuses used to justify not succeeding in America. Jews face this same prejudice and hatred from the left.
Good for BTS. Shame on the Grammys.