#GrammysSoWhite: Awards paying tribute to dead white artists but not Natalie Cole or Maurice White

Maurice White of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire
Maurice White of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire

Did the Grammy Awards and the Recording Academy take their cues from the Oscars??? Much like the 2016 Academy Awards, which has no blacks nominated in any category, save music (again), the Grammys will reportedly pay tribute to all of the transcendent artists who died in 2015, including David Bowie, Glenn Frey and Lemmy with live tributes.

However, the tribute session onstage will fail to include legends Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire and Natalie Cole. How is this even remotely possible or acceptable?

To add insult to injury, the Grammys will honor Run-DMC but will not televise it.

Why bother with honoring them then?!? What is the point if one of the most influential hip hop acts in history cannot get any air time as proper appreciation to their contribution to pop culture, why even waste the time?

During Monday’s telecast, according to Page Six, Lady Gaga will perform an eight-minute David Bowie tribute, Jackson Browne will honor Glenn Frey and Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp are expected to perform a tribute for Lemmy from Motörhead.

But industry insiders are griping that White, of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, and Natalie Cole have been banished to a video tribute package with others who died in the past year.

“Over the last week or so, since Maurice White passed away, there has been back and forth with the producers and the academy about some kind of representation of him during the show. The tributes they’ve confirmed are all white. As of yesterday, there was no tribute at all for Maurice because Grammy producers said they didn’t have time,” one insider told us.

The Grammys are also giving Run-DMC receive a lifetime achievement award — but it won’t be televised. “People are afraid to speak on it because it’s the Grammys. But there’s a history of them not acknowledging black artists,” the first source added.

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