Variety: In the wake of Recording Academy chief Neil Portnow’s ill-worded comments after the Grammy Awards Sunday night — in which he said female artists and executives need to “step up” — and a low number of nominees and winners who are women, a group of female music-industry senior executives have issued a letter calling for his resignation.
2 comments:
What an immature, unthoughtful comment made by someone with as much influence as Neil Portnow does. The idea of "stepping up" is one that has been on my mind throughout the past year or so as so many women and other minorities have been publicly working hard towards equality and standing up for all groups of people. It has become a part of so many people's everyday lives to "step up" and do things that will be good for the greater population and not just themselves. We see and do little things like marching and protesting with our friends and families to wearing all black or carrying white roses at red carpet events. But each of those little things very much count as stepping up, and for someone to try and invalidate those actions that so many people are partaking in only invalidates their own opinions and voice. We are not in a time where little bits of negativity like the words of Mr. Portnow should really phase us. We are working too hard and too often for things like that to break us down, and I hope that the people and women in particular of the music industry won't forget that.
These comments were incredibly tone deaf given the period in which we live in. His comments did not reflect the #metoo movement and what has been going on in the entertainment industry with regard to gender equality. To put the blame on women for such an incredibly unequal distribution of power in the music industry it is incredibly irresponsible, it was something that any publicist could tell you was going to be mad with incredible consternation. However, Neal was attempting to raise an important point, which set in a more nuanced fashion should have been well received. He also may not have been the correct messenger to deliver this message. But one major issue that plagues music production along with other industries such as directing, and stem education, is that socio-cultural norms mean that women are not often interested sometimes in pursuing careers in these fields. The answer is not to say “step up”, but rather to create a culture in which women are free to choose whatever careers they want, and are in encouraged to pursue careers in music production in music creation. However, that was not what he said, whatever his intentions may have been. We need to support gender equality in the music industry and in all industries.
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