Celebrity
Twitter Is Upset About Dave Chappelle & Louis CK's Grammy Nominations
They both received nods in the Best Comedy Album category despite controversies.
The 2023 Grammy nominations were announced on Nov. 15 — and while there were plenty of artists to celebrate on the full list of nods (including Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Adele), the Recording Academy also recognized several controversial names. Dave Chappelle and Louis CK, specifically, were both nominated in the Best Comedy Album category, for “The Closer” and “Sorry,” respectively.
The nod comes just a few days after Chappelle hosted Saturday Night Live on Nov. 12, where he used his monologue to defend Kanye West’s anti-Jewish remarks and made several of his own, too. During the 15-minute monologue, Chappelle did not address the transphobic comments he made in Netflix’s Dave Chappelle: The Closer, the same special the Recording Academy is recognizing today.
Louis CK, for his part, has admitted to the sexual misconduct described by five women in a 2017 New York Times article. Despite writing, at the time, that he “took advantage of the fact that [he] was widely admired” in the comedy community, “which disabled them from sharing their story and brought hardship to them when they tried,” CK has gone on to do several specials. Sincerely Louis CK was also nominated for the Best Comedy Album at the 2022 Grammys — and won.
Bustle reached out to the Recording Academy for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication. CEO Harvey Mason Jr. did, however, address criticism in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“Well, we don’t control who the voters vote for,” he said. “If the voters feel like a creator deserves a nomination, they’re going to vote for them. The thing that we can control is making sure that people that attend our events feel safe. If there’s someone that’s been nominated that we don’t necessarily agree with, we’re not going to remove a nomination.”
Mason added that the Academy’s role “is to evaluate the art and the quality of the art,” and will “never ... be in the business of deciding someone’s moral position or where we evaluate them to be on the scale of morality.”
Many Twitter users expressed their disappointment in the decision to honor Chappelle and CK — with several pointing out that the noms disprove the idea that “cancel culture” has a lasting impact on public figures.
Several users also pointed out that the lineup of Best Comedy Album nominees was comprised exclusively of men.
If either of the comedians does win Best Comedy Album at the 2023 Grammys, which are set to air Feb. 5, don’t expect them to address their respective controversies in an acceptance speech — or even show up, actually. CK was not present at last year’s ceremony to accept his award for Sincerely Louis CK.
