I'm not going to fall for the Grammy's fake diversity trap, nope.

They do this like every year. Get all of the tribal category wins out there untelevised so Black folks can get hype to watch the show -- only to then give mostly white winners awards on air. #GRAMMYs
Notice how most of the pop categories haven't been called on air yet, but most of the Rap/R&B ones are already done?
An opportunity to give airtime to Black and brown artists by default is systematically reduced to give more on-air time to mostly white artists in predominantly white music categories.
So for example, we already know they will not announce the General categories (AOTY, SOTY, ROTY, Best New Artist) yet -- but they are holding Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Country Album for the Live show.
It's obvious the Grammys got this down to a science. They want us to see Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Dua Lipa win on that stage for ratings. What categories? They don't care. They just need them to accept on air. The same for Megan Thee Stallion. She'll win in another category.
I personally don't see Black Parade winning in the General Categories. That's Dua Lipa/Taylor Swift territory. But, I can see an unannounced R&B category for sure. I can see Phoebe Bridgers winning Best New Artist if they give Megan Thee Stallion Best Rap Song. #GRAMMYs
The big shock of the night will be if Megan Thee Stallion wins Best New Artist, becoming the first female rapper to pull it off.

But for some reason, I'm not holding my breath. The Grammys play in our face all the time.
Folklore is a lock-in for AOTY.

Are y'all ready to see Taylor Swift pretend like she didn't know she's winning?

It's the "comeback" story of a white female artist who got "snubbed" for her previous two albums who now gets a third record-breaking AOTY win. #GRAMMYs
White feminism wants us to believe that Taylor Swift becoming the first female artist to win three Album of the Year awards tonight will be a major moment -- but then we look at all of the Black women she's beat in previous categories who deserved and say "yeah, no." #GRAMMYs
Folklore is a great album, to be clear. It's actually the best AOTY win out of the three Taylor Swift has put out. But in a year of racial uprisings and radical musical changes -- this album isn't reflective of that. I see the case for Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia more. #GRAMMYs
If Future Nostalgia pulls the upset and wins AOTY over Folklore, there will be a private jolt of a "hell yeah" from music critics of color who have had to see people like Beck beat Beyoncé and Swift beat Kendrick Lamar in previous years. #GRAMMYs
But one can dream? We kinda already know how this will play out. I can see them giving Dua Lipa Record of the Year for "Don't Start Now" and Taylor Swift her first Song of the Year Grammy for "Cardigan" and then let Dua get the pop categories for fair balance. #GRAMMYs
On behalf of the dancing gays everywhere who wanted to a pure pop record that just gave us bops, thank you Dua Lipa for doing that. Thank you for just being yourself and not trying to jump on rap trends and fake the funk. Thank you for just putting out a banging record. #GRAMMYs
There is a theory that Grammys might try to do the most and might give Beyoncé and Black Parade some surprise wins.

If that happens, let me just say that these wins aren't for Black Parade, but for Formation and all of the Grammys Lemonade should have won in 2017. #GRAMMYs
And of course there is that speculation that Beyoncé is going to surprise us with a performance of Savage with Megan Thee Stallion tonight.

I mean....it's possible, but again, the Grammy love to stir fake buzz for ratings. We'll see. #GRAMMYs
I mean it's clear that they played BTS fans by nominating the group and giving them these supplemental Grammy performances only for them not to win. These are the games they play each year. #GRAMMYs
And maybe it's too early, but can we talk about how perfunctory some of these "wins" are. Love John Legend, I really do -- but Best R&B Album should have gone to Giveon and/or Luke James. #GRAMMYs
I am personally proud of Brittany Howard who is super underrated and breaking rock barriers and other musical genres. Seriously, you all need to listen to her solo music if you aren't. She's more than just the former member of the Alabama Shakes. #GRAMMYs
Pretty glad that we all can agree that Post Malone doesn't deserve a Grammy and we're pretty much over white rappers winning -- even though they still take up space in important categories that The Weeknd actually deserved occupancy in. #GRAMMYs
Someone asked me what if Doja Cat pulls the surprise win for Best New Artist?

My response: White supremacy would have won again. #GRAMMYs
Okay, more Grammy conspiracy theories: If Dua Lipa loses Best Pop Vocal album, Taylor's winning AOTY full throttle.

Another one: Grammy voters might be messy and give Billie Eilish a surprise win for "Everything I Wanted" in these pop categories to shake things up. #GRAMMYs
Alright, these are pretty much all of my thoughts headed into the Grammys tonight. It should be interesting -- or predictable AF. Here's to hoping Beyoncé either tie or beat Alison Krauss's record for most awarded woman at #GRAMMYs and Megan Thee Stallion getting MULTIPLE wins.

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More from @MrErnestOwens

17 Mar
FYI: The fetishization & eroticization of people of color is ANOTHER FORM OF RACISM.

Some of y'all are watching porn so much that you have normalized this shit.

From BBC and Black bucks, to docile Asians and muy caliente Latinos -- the oversexualization is killing US.
When they try to say that this white man isn't racist -- but was driven by a sex addiction -- his sex addiction to Asian women was a fetishization. That sex and racism can't go hand-in-hand is ignorance.
As a Black queer man, I know what it's like to be fetishized for presumed sexual attributes that I don't personally invite to be violated.

But I have also heard Asians be erroticized in certain ways as well. It has and continues to be a form of racism society let's slide.
Read 7 tweets
17 Mar
THREAD: It's important for people to understand that these concerns around Tamika Mallory aren't new or unwarranted.

There's one particular incident during the Breonna Taylor protests in Louisville, Kentucky that a lot of people aren't talking about enough that raised red flags.
In July 2020, Tamika Mallory's Until Freedom organization rolled up in Louisville without coordinating and strategizing with local Black activist organizations on the ground, notably BLM Louisville.

She brought several of her celebrity reality TV star friends along the way.
Their plan was to stage a protest outside Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's home.

During the protest, which featured outside camera crews and lots of social media traction that would later be used on reality TV shows like RHOA and Love & Hip Hop, it was a vanity fair.
Read 6 tweets
8 Nov 20
THREAD: Just so we are clear, as we begin to say forever dismiss aggressive Trump supporters like Candace Owens, Diamond & Silk, and others who made money off dismissing Black dissenters and activists -- don't forget to include passive ass Trump apologists like Van Jones as well.
Van Jones have spent the last four years enjoying the token Black liberal role of seeing "both sides" of the issue and defending conservatives who meant us harm.

As he cry for change, he actually supported quite the opposite.
While Black organizers were calling out corruption in the White House, Van Jones was talking about how "presidental" Trump was at his first State of the Union...after talking about a "blacklash" in 2016 once Trump won.

Meanwhile he was talking selfies with Eric Trump.
Read 8 tweets
6 Nov 20
JOE BIDEN NOW TAKES THE LEAD OF PENNSYLVANIA!!!!!!!!

HE IS ALSO LEADING GEORGIA, ARIZONA, AND NEVADA!!!!

#BLACKVOTERSMATTER #ElectionResults2020 #Election2020
Now that it's clear that Philly pulled through for Biden in this new lead in Pennsylvania, I just want to remind you all of this @phillymag op-ed I wrote on Election Day of how he owes us BIG TIME. #Election2020 #ElectionResults2020 #Philly #PA

phillymag.com/news/2020/11/0…
AND LET'S BE CLEAR: THERE ARE STILL MORE VOTES BEING COUNTED IN PHILLY. PHILADELPHIA DID NOT COME HERE TO PLAY WITH THIS ELECTION.

FYI: #Philly is the poorest major city in America, with an overwhelming mostly Black and brown population.

#Election2020 #BlackVotersMatter
Read 5 tweets
13 Oct 20
I received the sad news late last night and was hoping it wasn't true.

Earl Harvey was an incredible man who created inclusive spaces for all people in local media and walked the talk that so many people in this industry rarely do.
When I first started getting citywide attention for my journalism five years ago, he invited me to what has been his legendary holiday party. I was exposed to some of the most influential and prominent Black leaders in Philly and began to build a network from there.
I used to get locked out of spaces like that because I was considered too young, gay, and outspoken. Earl didn't care and wanted me in the room. He was always opening doors for newcomers and embraced young people in a town that often tell us to "wait our turn."
Read 5 tweets
13 Oct 20
THREAD: There's two ways to view that Bill Burr SNL clip as funny, and I fear some have underestimated how some could find humor its irony.

Here's how I did.
I am always going to find humor in the irony of white people going after each other on the things that Black people been saying for years.

I'm aware that Bill Burr has a problematic history of racist/homophobic jokes. Therein lies the joke within himself.
For me, I didn't find Bill Burr a hero or exempt or "woke" for what he said -- I found it comical that another white person was basically ranting about how a subset of their demographic was being seen anything less than.

His rant reveals more about himself, than white women.
Read 9 tweets

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