The Weeknd has announced that he is no longer allowing his record label to submit his music to The Grammy's after his snub last year.
In a statement to the New York Times on Thursday (March 11), the 'Blinding Lights' singer said: "Because of the secret committees. I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys."
The Weeknd described the Grammy Awards as "corrupt" after he was snubbed in November of last year.
He wrote to organizers on social media: "You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency..."
In a statement to Rolling Stone, recording Academy interim chief Harvey Mason, jr. reacted to The Weeknd's criticism of the Grammy's in a public statement last year.
"We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated," he said. "I was surprised and can empathize with what he's feeling. His music this year was excellent, and his contributions to the music community and broader world are worthy of everyone's admiration."
Mason continued: "We would have loved to have him also perform on the Grammy stage the weekend before the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists.
"To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd's performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process. All Grammy nominees are recognized by the voting body for their excellence, and we congratulate them all."
Mason also told Variety about The Weeknd being shut out: "It really just comes down to the voting body that decides.
"We have eight nomination slots to fill in [the Big Four categories: Best Album, Song, Record and New Artist], five in others, and the voters vote for their favorites. It's really interesting, though."
He then elaborated on the process used by Grammy officials to determine which performers are nominated and in which categories.
"We look at it every year and make tweaks and revisions to the process; we did it this year, last year, we'll do it next year. And I don't think this calls it into question, honestly," Mason said. "The process is there so we can continue to monitor excellence."
