Harry Styles' Grammy award acceptance speech causes backlash
Harry Styles has come under fire for an off-handed comment he made during his Grammy Awards acceptance speech.
The former One Direction member won the biggest award of the night, taking home the trophy for Album of the Year for his 2022 masterpiece Harry’s House.
The 29-year-old took to the stage with his musical collaborators to accept the award, giving a speech of thanks to those who have inspired him along his musical journey.
However, a fleeting comment he made has caused outrage, telling the audience, “This doesn’t happen to people like me very often.”
Harry Styles accepts the #Grammy for Album of the Year. https://t.co/yom28xGdvk pic.twitter.com/0037FGJ52C
— Variety (@Variety) February 6, 2023
The statement raised eyebrows, with many encouraging Harry to check his privilege.
Much of the criticism came from people who believed Beyoncé should’ve won the award, saying Harry’s comment was coming from a place of white privilege.
Only three black women have won Album of the Year in the Grammys’ 65-year history, and it’s been 24 years since a black woman took home the prized award, when Lauryn Hill won for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999.
Despite the backlash, Harry’s House was the second most streamed album of 2022, while Beyoncé’s Renaissance album didn’t even crack the top five.
While other fans continued their tirade about his speech, die-hard Harry Styles fans rushed to his defence, with one person writing on Twitter, “Harry Styles gave THIS humble speech and people are hating on him because their fave didn’t win?? He deserved this Grammy more than anything so respectfully, get over yourselves.”
Another fan said, “It's not cool to hate on Harry Styles just because he won the Grammy you wanted someone else to win, so ZZZZZZ for that honestly. He had one of the biggest albums and singles of the year, the math IS ACTUALLY MATHING.”
One person, who is seemingly well-versed in the world of online fan culture, summed up the discourse perfectly, saying, “Harry could give the nicest speech in the world, & be a genuine a** person and you got twitter warriors picking apart everything he says to make it negative. Y’all are actually miserable.”
Image credits: Getty Images