The Bizarre (And Astonishingly White) World of the People's Choice Award Nominations
Last year, it looked absurd when the People's Choice Awards decided to ignore the 2 biggest selling recording acts of the year in favor of a distinctly non hip-hop set of nominees. This year the awards move even further toward looking like the most distinctly racist entertainment event of the year.
Of the 3 nominees for favorite R&B song, only 1 is by a black artist. I'm not sure in what absurd popular music universe, other than a distinctly racist one, "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera, which failed to reach Billboard's R&B Tracks chart, and "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake, which at least managed a #11 peak, are 2 of the 3 favorite R&B songs of the year. I expect that the artists would even consider their nominations absurd. The only nomination outside of the R&B and the Hip Hop category that go to a partly black artist is Black Eyed Peas' nomination for favorite group. In the People's Choice whitewashed world, all of our favorite male artists are white and sing country music.
It's time for CBS to pull the plug on this absurdly inaccurate and offensive depiction of popular culture in the US. Head here for the full list of nominees.
Comments
Well said, sir. If the oversights weren’t so blatant, one would think the nominees’ names were simply drawn out of a hat — a cowboy hat, apparently, based on the bizarre singer nominations. As they say Down Under, “Good on you” for nailing this ridiculous exercise for what it is.
I agree with Dave. Good job for pointing this out.
I agree. I lost interest in this show a long time ago and I always noticed that it was always country artists that were nominated and that won – which I found strange since country music isn’t exactly the most popular genre right now.
Thank YOU!!!… for pointing this out.
Mainstream awards shows are often pretty disappointing to me, but as someone who writes almost exclusively about non-WPSE (white people singing in English) music, this one really takes the cake. Completely ridiculous. Thanks for pointing it out, and thanks for taking a stand!