The Grammys paid tribute to Ric Ocasek by spelling his name incorrectly

By Allison Shoemaker  |  January 27, 2020 | 8:45pm
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The Grammys paid tribute to Ric Ocasek by spelling his name incorrectly
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There were a number of things that last night’s Grammy Awards got right, so let’s start there. Lizzo’s opening performance, for one. Alicia Keys. Tributes to Kobe Bryant, Prince, and Nipsey Hussle. Demi Lovato. Billy Porter’s hat. All good.


But, reader, in addition to the customary and kind of inevitable omissions from the In Memoriam segment, the Grammys also spelled not one but two names incorrectly, as noted by Consequence of Sound. Two. They added a ‘K’ to the end of Ric Ocasek’s first name, something that probably happened to the frontman of The Cars with some frequency during his life. How many people looked at that screen during the production process and didn’t catch the error? 20? 40? Have they still not noticed? Is that why it’s still up on YouTube, unchanged?

The other name error: Spanish singer Camilo Sesto. They just gave him a new name entirely.

This writer will admit to being unfamiliar with Camilo Sesto’s work prior to this error, but now can giddily share this absolutely amazing video of Sesto singing “Getsemaní” from a Spanish adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar. So, small upside to a bad mistake.

As for the omissions, per COS and Billboard, the segment did not include Keith Flint of The Prodigy, David Berman of Silver Jews, Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis, songwriter Scott Walker, Geto Boys’ Bushwick Bill, Ranking Roger of The English Beat, and Robert Hunter, lyricist for The Grateful Dead. As Billboard notes, however, those names and others were included in a longer list the Recording Academy shared online last night. There, both Sesto and Ocasek’s names are spelled correctly.

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