{"id":21747,"date":"2026-07-30T06:36:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21747"},"modified":"2026-07-30T06:36:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:36:51","slug":"grammys-ceo-responds-to-bts-decision-not-to-submit-for-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21747","title":{"rendered":"Grammys CEO Responds to BTS Decision Not to Submit For Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/recording-academy\/\" id=\"auto-tag_recording-academy_1\" data-tag=\"recording-academy\">Recording Academy<\/a> CEO Harvey Mason Jr. has issued a lengthy response after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/bts\/\" id=\"auto-tag_bts_1\" data-tag=\"bts\">BTS<\/a> announced they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/music\/music-news\/bts-not-submitting-2027-grammy-awards-1236658864\/\">wouldn\u2019t be submitting their music for Grammy consideration <\/a>this year, giving his support to the group over their decision while also addressing critique toward the organization\u2019s newly-created best Asian pop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/music\/\" id=\"auto-tag_music_1\" data-tag=\"music\">music<\/a> performance category. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cI am saddened to hear that\u00a0BTS\u00a0has chosen not to participate in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/grammy-awards\/\" id=\"auto-tag_grammy-awards_1\" data-tag=\"grammy-awards\">Grammy Awards<\/a> process this year, but as a music creator, I understand and respect their decision,\u201d Mason Jr. wrote. \u201cI do want to clarify something that seems to be getting lost in the conversation. The Asian Pop category was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia. The spirit of this new category is to shine a dedicated spotlight on these important artists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tBTS first announced their decision on Tuesday night, sharing posts on Instagram where they said they \u201chope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe move came just over a month after the Recording Academy first introduced its new Asian pop category, which, per the Academy, \u201crecognizes artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, with meaningful use of one or more Asian languages. Awards are presented to the performing artist(s).\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe award had received a mixed response from fans, with some arguing the award could keep Asian acts from getting properly recognized in the general categories. In his statement, Mason Jr. said the genre categories don\u2019t\u201dexclude an artist from also submitting and being considered in the General Field.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cRecognition in a genre category and recognition in the General Field are not mutually exclusive,\u201d Mason Jr. said. \u201cAn artist can absolutely pursue both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tMason Jr. further wrote that the Academy adds new categories  \u201cnever to divide, but to expand who is recognized by our 15,000 Grammy voters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cThe Grammy organization is here to serve music and all the people who make it,\u201d Mason Jr. wrote. \u201cAs we continue to expand the reach, our membership and our awards, regardless of geography or language, I want to emphasize that we will continue to listen to the global music community and work to honor and celebrate all the artists whose music moves the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tBTS isn\u2019t the first act to rebuke the Grammys, as other major stars <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/general-news\/the-weeknd-lashes-out-at-recording-academy-the-grammys-remain-corrupt-4097296\/\">including The Weeknd,<\/a> Drake and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/music\/music-news\/morgan-wallen-will-not-submit-music-for-grammys-1236348808\/\">Morgan Wallen<\/a> have all decided in recent years not to have their music considered as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tRead Mason Jr.\u2019s full statement below:<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<em>I am saddened to hear that BTS has chosen not to participate in the Grammy Awards process this year, but as a music creator, I understand and respect their decision.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<em>I do want to clarify something that seems to be getting lost in the conversation. The Asian Pop category was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia. The spirit of this new category is to shine a dedicated spotlight on these important artists. More categories mean more artists\u2019 work is recognized. It\u2019s never to divide, but to expand who is recognized by our 15,000 Grammy voters.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<em>I also want to be very clear: submitting music in a genre category such as Asian Pop, or Jazz or Country does not exclude an artist from also submitting and being considered in the General Field categories, including Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year. Those categories remain open to any eligible recording, regardless of genre. Recognition in a genre category and recognition in the General Field are not mutually exclusive. An artist can absolutely pursue both.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t<em>The Grammy organization is here to serve music and all the people who make it. As we continue to expand the reach, our membership and our awards, regardless of geography or language, I want to emphasize that we will continue to listen to the global music community and work to honor and celebrate all the artists whose music moves the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. has issued a lengthy response after BTS announced they wouldn\u2019t be submitting their music for Grammy consideration this year, giving his support to the group over their decision while also addressing critique toward the organization\u2019s newly-created best Asian pop music performance category. \u201cI am saddened to hear that\u00a0BTS\u00a0has chosen&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2278213269.jpg?w=1440&h=810&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}