*Several 2021 Grammy contenders have declined their nominations because the artists in their category are all white.
Three of the five acts nominated for best children’s album are outraged that they are nominated along with three white male acts and one white woman, per NPR.
“After this year, to have an all-white slate of nominees seemed really tone-deaf,” said Boston-based singer-songwriter Alastair Moock, whose nominated album, “Be a Pain,” is about American heroes such as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Harvey Milk, and Rosa Parks.
Moock and fellow acts Dog on Fleas and the Okee Dokee Brothers are protesting #GrammysSoWhite by turning down their nomination. The artists — all “white guys with guitars” — have asked the Recording Academy to remove their names from the ballots. They wrote they “couldn’t in good conscience benefit from a process that has historically overlooked women and artists of color.”
READ MORE:Â 2021 Grammys Ceremony Postponed Due to COVID-19 Concerns
Three Grammy contenders for best children’s album — the Okee Dokee Brothers, Alastair Moock and Dog on Fleas — have turned down their nominations in protest after learning all the nominees in the category are white.https://t.co/jjW5V246GU
— NPR (@NPR) January 4, 2021
“We thought that it was the strongest thing we could do, to stand with people of color whose albums are too often left out of the Grammy nominations,” says Joe Mailander, one of the Okee Dokee Brothers. “This is not just white guys with guitars playing for kids. We want to welcome all different types of music to this community.”
Valeisha Butterfield Jones, the Recording Academy’s first inclusion officer, says the organization aims to increase diversity in the Grammy’s secret nominating committees.Â
“We have made a very clear and firm commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion as a part of our core values,” Butterfield Jones says. “I think many of the actions that we’ve taken and have put into place are signs of that. But we still have a lot of work left to do.”
One of the nominees who decided to remain on the ballot is Joanie Leeds, and she “didn’t decline because my album is really about empowering young women,” Leeds said. Her ninth children’s folk music album is titled “All the Ladies.”
“I mean, I have 20 women on my album. So for us, it was like it was kind of counter to our empowering women message to step down,” Leeds added. “I know that this is really about the guys that dropped out, but I feel like a lot of times women are kind of left on the side. It’s a shame. I wish there was more equality with women.”
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