Last Sunday’s Oscars ceremony set a pretty high bar for “screwed up things that folks will still uncomfortably clap for,” admittedly. But that doesn’t mean we should count the Grammys out for the dubious honor of “most okay with crummiest thing” during this year’s awards season. The audio-focused awards show came out swinging this evening with proof to that effect, granting pre-show Grammys to full-time masturbator/part-time stand-up Louis CK and ambulatory garbage fire Kanye West.
CK was nominated for the first time since allegations of his habit of soliciting young women to watch him masturbate became public knowledge back in 2017, beating out Lavell Crawford, Chelsea Handler, Lewis Black, Nate Bargatze, and Kevin Hart for Best Comedy Album.
West, meanwhile, has already pulled down two awards tonight, even before we get to the festivities proper. Did he win “Best Rap Song” for the song he put Da Baby and accused rapist Marilyn Manson on? You’d best bet your brightly bronzed gramophone on it.
West won for “Best Melodic Performance” for “Hurricane,” off last year’s Donda, and Best Rap Song period for “Jail,” the second part of which features appearances from both Manson and Da Baby. It’s not entirely clear if those musical luminaries’ contributions were included in the parts of the song—which also features a verse from JAY-Z—that were up for awards consideration.)
That’s a pretty hefty dose of scuzz for just the pre-show, but such is the joy of awards show life. CK, at least won’t pulling in anymore statues tonight, but West is still up for Album Of The Year, period, for Donda. The Grammys previously declined to let the rapper/prominent divorced-wife-guy perform at this year’s ceremony, but god only knows what’ll happen if he wins and has a chance to address the crowd from that particular pulpit.