*BlackTree Media has covered the 2020 Grammy awards for the last 14 years, and the outlet, like EURweb, was present on the big night Sunday, capturing the disappointing treatment of Black artists toward Black media.
“There’s a struggle, especially for Black media,” Jamaal Finkley, CEO of BlackTree, said over B-roll of stars on the carpet. “The struggle is multifaceted. First, there’s the placement that we are on the carpet, which is usually we’re all bundled near the end of the carpet. Second is the publicists that represent the talent, which you’ll see in some of these videos, and third, it’s the talent themselves, who make conscious efforts or lack of effort to take time to speak to the few Black-owned media.”
Finkley can be heard in the video above telling rappers Gucci Mane and Quavo of the Migos, “Don’t just do PEOPLE! (magazine).”
As reported by MadameNoire, other stars who walked past the outlet were H.E.R., Questlove, Lil Nas X and reportedly Rick Ross. Rapper Gunna briefly stopped with his publicist. We, at EURweb, concur. The same thing happened to us.
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@BlackTreeMedia keep calling these celebrities out all year. Our media matters! How soon we forget!!
— Maine The Baptist (@mainethebaptist) January 29, 2020
“Been doing it for too long to continue to watch this BS happen,” Finkley wrote in the comments on YouTube. “Each of these award shows cost blacktree $1500 to cover and to see people just ignore us for white media is ridiculous. They thirsty for that 30 seconds on a white outlet while ignoring 4 black outlets. Maybe 5. Like you can’t make the time sis or bro? Wtf. We here to cover you.”
MadameNoire writes, “And before you go about talking about Black media being messy, the reputable sites they tend to flock to, from PEOPLE to E! and Entertainment Tonight, often focus on the same angles and drama they specifically point the finger at Black reporters about.”
One YouTube user commented on the video above: “I hope this goes viral. These are the same people who will throw tantrums every year over being ignored by the Grammys and other mainstream awards shows and then give black outlets their ass to kiss. Call ’em out.”
Another added, “As a fellow journalist I am so sick of this struggle. Most of them do not have black publicist so it makes it hard for them to make sure they get black media coverage. Thanks for exposing it – how is it 2020 but media inclusivity is not real.”
A third noted, “Black artist like P. Diddy have the nerve to complain about lack of diversity at these award shows when they’re the ones contributing to it. Smh.”
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