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Beyoncé currently holds the record for most Grammy nominations for a woman in history. But at the 59th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, her critically acclaimed visual album Lemonade only earned two awards off nine nominations. At the end of the night, the album lost the Album of the Year award to Adele’s 25 , prompting outrage from a long list artists and fans.
Now, Sufjan Stevens joins the collective public outrage by calling out the Grammys for their apparent race problem—only two black artists have won Album of the Year in the past 20 years.
“Friendly reminder: don’t be racist,” he wrote on his website, Sufjan.com , preceding the following dialogue:
Q: WTF is “Urban Contemporary”? A: It’s where the white man puts the incomparable pregnant black woman because he is so threatened by her talent, power, persuasion and potential.
Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet LooksShow all 28 1 /28Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Actress/Singer Jennifer Lopez attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Rappers Rick Ross and Lil Yachty attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Recording Artist Adele attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Chance the Rapper attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Actress Laverne Cox attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Chrissy Teigen attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Singer/Songwriter Charli XCX attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Producer DJ Khaled attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Musician Gary Clark Jr and model Nicole Trunfio attend The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks TV Personality Heidi Klum attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Singer Demi Lovato and CEO of BET Debra L. Lee attend The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Producer Mike Will Made-It attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Swae Lee and Slim Jimmy of Rae Sremmurd and producer Mike Will Made-It attend The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Rapper Swae Lee of Rae Sremmurd attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Singer Gnarly Davidson (aka CeeLo Green) attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Singer Gnarly Davidson (aka CeeLo Green) attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Musician Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 12: Recording Artist Adele attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Rapper 2 Chainz attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for NARAS)
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Rapper Rick Ross (C) and Lil Yachty (R) attend The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 12: Singer/Songwriter Tori Kelly attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Paris Jackson attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Singer Daya attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Rapper Desiigner(R) and mother attend The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Singer Gallant attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Rapper Desiigner attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks Singer Jane Zhang attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
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Grammy Awards 2017: Best Red Carpet Looks
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Sufjan recently used his blog as a platform to write about refugees and the concept of America being a so-called “Christian Nations .”
“This goes against everything the world has taught you, and it goes against your instinct and it most certainly goes against the laws of free enterprise and corporate interests,” he wrote. “Money and power and governments are fraudulent and false gods. We must be in the world, not of the world.”