ADVERTISEMENT
NEWS
elliot-wolf - January 31, 2018
Neil Portnow was recently set up for failure by Variety when asked his opinion about the hashtag #GrammysSoMale. Anyone smart would have politely declined to comment on any social media hashtag, it’s always a trap. It happened last year with a similar hashtag called #OscarsSoWhite. If anything other than an apology for being white, male, or both comes out of your mouth after being asked your opinion you will be publicly crucified. Portnow is learning that the hard way now since he didn’t get the memo about keeping his mouth shut when it comes to why so few women win Grammy awards. His answer basically boiled down to people should win awards for working the hardest and the smartest. And an answer like his only works in a world where things make sense so naturally the losers feeling left out at the event were offended after hearing what he had to say. He’s back-peddling and apologizing because a horde of angry women is all it takes for a man to lose his job these days.
Portnow's statement:
“It has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level, to step up,” Portnow told Variety.
Portnow's apology:
“[Sunday] night, I was asked a question about the lack of female artist representation in certain categories of this year's Grammy Awards,” it read. “Regrettably, I used two words, ‘step up,’ that, when taken out of context, do not convey my beliefs and the point I was trying to make.
“I regret that I wasn't as articulate as I should have been in conveying this thought,” Portnow added. “I remain committed to doing everything I can to make our music community a better, safer, and more representative place for everyone.”
The Grammys are being cornered into becoming an affirmative action award ceremony and telling women to “step up” is his subconscious patriarchal oppressive nature escaping the confines of his inner being. I’m pretty sure Neil makes enough money not to genuinely care about which gender dominates award ceremonies. Saying anyone who didn’t win should “step up” is one of the most generic responses anyone could conjure up. It’s sadder that women are upset looking for approval from someone that’s six years away from being senile.
Photo Credit: Backgrid USA / Splash News / Pacific Coast News
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.