Fantasia Boycotted Grammys Over Aretha Tribut

[abfan]

Fantasia Boycotted Grammys Over Aretha Tribute
Fantasia earned her first Grammy on Sunday night for Best Female Vocal Performance for "Bittersweet," but decided to stay home because she wasn't invited to participate in the Aretha Franklin tribute.

Call it what you want, but 'Tasia isn't too thrilled with being left out. "I'm going to be very honest with you. You know I wasn't at the Grammys last night," she told "106 & Park" hosts Terrence J and Rocsi on Monday evening. "I'm kind of going through my own thing... Last night they were honoring someone who is my idol, Aretha Franklin, and there is no way I could have sat there and not got the happy feet and wanting to jump on the mic because she is my favorite so I felt like, you know, at the end of the day I should have been on that stage so, I kind of did my own little thing last night."

Because her feelings were hurt, Fantasia missed out on the moment she'd been waiting for. She's been nominated 11 times and Sunday night was her glorious moment.

You be the judge. Would she have made the perfection addition? To get the full effect, check out Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, Yolanda Adams, Martina McBride and Florence from Florence and the Machine honoring Aretha Franklin.

Read more: http://www.essence.com/entertainment...#ixzz1E8FKgORL

[topdiva1]

Another stupid decision by Fantasia - and then equally retarded to go public with it. She needs to take a masterclass in CLASS.

[glencro]

I love Fantasia but what a poor move...big ole SIGH

[skooldem1]

Laughing at the fact that she HAD to mention it 3 days after the awards. Apparently she wasn't even missed. Perhaps this will be a lesson learned. Keep your shoes on, cover up those tatoos, and stop screaming at the top of your lungs, and just maybe you will be invited to more than just the BET awards.

[abfan]

skooldem1 she is covered up.I guess bringing Christina back a week after she botched The National Anthem was a good idea.How many chances does she get.Topdiva1...oh yes not everyone is a classy as ur DR..give the girl a break

[midnightman]

This woman here...

[reese]

I think Fantasia would have done a great job in the Aretha tribute, although I would rather see her sing alone. The thought of her, Christina, and Jennifer trying to outscream each other isn't appealing.

But to miss the awards because she wasn't asked to take part seems a bit extreme. Especially when she was nominated for, and actually won an award. But she is still young, and has plenty of time to learn from these mistakes.

[jobeterob]

And Aretha wasn't really ever one of the screamers anyways, so they didn't need another one.

It is always best to be discreet and say little, even if you are annoyed.

[marv2]

That was very stupid. Let's see how long it will be before she wins another one or even be asked to be a presenter......geez!

[midnightman]

And Aretha wasn't really ever one of the screamers anyways, so they didn't need another one.

It is always best to be discreet and say little, even if you are annoyed.

I'm glad they didn't invite Patti but Patti's voice has aged a bit so she probably will lose the battle against Yolanda and Jennifer this time around lol

[uptight]

There must be some other reason! You don't skip an event where you have so many nominations simply because the stage couldn't hold one more diva in a tribute segment. I sense Fantasia is throwing us a red herring over some other issue.

[skooldem1]

Maybe she wants to be considered for the Aretha biopic.

[midnightman]

Fantasia is just trying to evoke some drama where there was none to be had. But then again it could be much deeper than not being invited to sing for Ree that is causing this outburst.

[destruction]

Can't say I agree or disagree with her decision.

Not a Big fan....but not a hater either.

But if she's sincere, and that could very well be the truth.....then I applaud her candor....whether it costs her something in the future or not. It's refreshing to hear people open their hearts....rather than hiding in or behind shade.

And if this had been a real Talent show....and she was a contestant....I doubt she would have finished SIXTH.

[midnightman]

^ Fantasia WON American Idol, it was Jennifer that finished at six.

[topdiva1]

I think Fantasia would have done a great job in the Aretha tribute, although I would rather see her sing alone. The thought of her, Christina, and Jennifer trying to outscream each other isn't appealing.

But to miss the awards because she wasn't asked to take part seems a bit extreme. Especially when she was nominated for, and actually won an award. But she is still young, and has plenty of time to learn from these mistakes.

Enjoyed this - very nicely put. Thanks!!!

[REDHOT]

FANTASIA will be just fine,i wish she could have been a part of the tribute,to ARETHA FRANKLIN,it would not hurt,the tribute,i still loved it.
please stay positive

[arrr&bee]

And this is the actress that's gonna portray the legend[mahalia]gimme a friggin break!!!!!

[juicefree20]

Before everyone jumps all over Fantasia for being a 'diva', let's not forget the fact that many of the 'divas' of our generation as well as earlier ones have had more than their share of moments of 'divatude'.

Our generation also has a long laundry list of bad decision making, have snubbed a few folks & worse. The primary difference being that there was no Twitter or Facebook around that captured their impulsive moments, no 200 cable channels, TMZ or media outlets tripping over themselves to find 'news'.

Also, society was different, less voyeuristic & folks hadn't had their minds numbed by those damn reality shows which has dumbed-down society to the extent that many believe that life HAS to be a series of melodramas, either real or contrived. Another important factor is that bad behavior wasn't generally encourged, tolerated, nor rewarded. These days, entertainers get away with things that once would've cost them their careers.

They also had better press agents back then, whom were skilled at keeping a whole lot of garbage from hitting the papers. Unfortunately, these days many of these handlers seem to believe that there's no such thing as 'bad' press. More than that, remember that during the 80s & 90s, this mindset became prevalent & was pushed to the forefront, NOT by young entertainers, but rather some marketing suits who wanted their artists to be 'edgy'. Unless they were Disney artists, whom they wanted to push as the 'Greg & Marsha Brady', good kid next-door.

Otherwise, they often pushed the envelope as far as they could & that's the environment that these kids came up in, soaked it up & now we're surprised that many of them act as though they've lost their rabbit-azzed mind.

All of those books which were written 25 years after the fact only prove that we weren't angels. Fortunately, we didn't have Harvey Levin's folks, nor Inside Edition & Extra camping outside of folks doors, with the sole intention of discovering scandals which would burst our bubbles about our idols.

The bottom line is that we judge the kids of today far more harshly than we do those of our generation whom have screwed-up. Despite practicing similar behavior, how many drug addicts, philanderers, abusers & nasty divas of our generation are still held in the highest esteem by all of us? Just about everything that we've learned over the last 25 years or so about people of our era whom we speak so glowingly about hasn't exactly been pretty. The excuse usually given is that they have a meaningful & great body of timeless work, as though that makes it alright for them to have acted as many of them did once upon a time.

And THAT is bullshit & hypocritical as hell, because bad behavior was bad behavior in 1971 & bad behavior is bad behavior in 2011. It's as simple as that.

If I'm to judge from the responses I read whenever one of these kids screw up, I guess that there's a whole lot of folks of our era whom we should now renounce for similar misdeeds.

I'm not going to do that, nor is anyone else here going to either. We make & have made allowances for our heroes whom have screwed up, in many ways far worse, or in a similar manner as Fantasia has. If we've made allowances for them & cut them slack, wouldn't it be fair for us to do the same for these kids whom have grown up in an environment that our generation couldn't have possibly imagined back then?

Perhaps we do this because we're looking back & have romanticized a special time in our lives...our youth & all of those special memories take away our ability to be fair. And it's no different for me. Those days were special to me & sometimes, I really hate taking that backward glance into the rear-view mirror of my life, because yesterday is so much different than today. There's no way that you could've told me back then that these days would be as crazy & warped as they've become.

At times, I can't stand to have my thoughts linger too long on those days because it's a 'lose-lose' situation & thinking about how great those days were, damn near makes my heart hurt. I can be riding with my son & pass my old neighborhood & everytime I pass the old block, I shake my head & sigh. And everytime, my son looks at me & asks if it's really that bad. And I realize that growing up in the time that he did, he couldn't possibly understand how it feels for me to see my old neighborhood...MY childhood, reduced to rubble, while those great memories remain ingrained in my mind forever. Sometimes I can see the kid that I was playing in that schoolyard, still remember the faces, smells & people whom have been dead for decades.

And yes...it hurts like hell!

I guess that memories are like that & as Johnny Bristol sang, 'memories don't leave like people do'.

The bottom line is that it's a different world & society has become so lax that damn near anything is permissible. Despite that, I still place much of the blame on adults because it was a bunch of grown-azzed men, about the age that I am now, whom willingly opened the door to this madness, in an attempt to try to be 'cool' to the kids & to drain every dime that they could from their pockets.

I know of not ONE kid who owned one media concern, record conglomerate, nor tv production company. If those folks didn't want what has been vomited on society, then we wouldn't be seeing it. It's really as simple as that. This one's not on the kids, it's on those old-azzed fatcats who pimped them, got even richer while doing so & helped to screw up the minds of at least 2 generations of kids, as well as a WHOLE LOT OF ADULTS in the process.

These days, many adults act dumber than the kids do & right here, we have several threads, both archived AND CURRENT ones, which prove that to be true.

Does anyone find any truth in what I'm saying here?

[topdiva1]

^^^ Flawless and oh so CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[juicefree20]

Topdiva:

Thank you for understanding.

Honestly, how much blame can I place on these kids for having somewhat misguided ideas about tact or anything else, when they're only following the template that ADULTS have laid out for them?

What can be said about a society...ANY SOCIETY, where any Jon, "New York" & "Snooki" can become a 'star' & a 'celebrity' for offering absolutely ZERO substance to society? 8 children notwitstanding, exactly WHAT of worth has Jon Gosselin given society? What have "New York", "Snooki" & the other assorted galaxy of 'stars' done for anyone, other than to show that if you're willing to play the slut, a out-of-control, drunken & self-absorbed B, that you can become wealthy & worse of all, the TRUE motivation for hug-deprived folks, FAMOUS?

Fame & not so much money is the true motivation for much of what we're seeing...the need for some to feel that they're somebody, be it famous, or infamous. Youtube proves this, with folks posting personal beat-downs, an act which is criminal in nature, yet these folks post it because it gets them attention. Ever watch 'Bridezillas', or even a 'reality' cooking show? It's gotten so sick that now we have ramped-up 'reality' shows about EXTERMINATORS, for cripes sake.

A DAMN EXTERMINATOR!?!!!!!

And all that you have to do is to act the ass in order to gain this fame or infamy. How much easier could it be for folks living in the "Look at me" Youtube generation?

Again, these kids have been set-up & the seeds for what we're seeing today has its roots FIRMLY set in our generation. History proves that to be true. Go back to the 80s & 90s with wrestling soap operas & sports & their "Hi Mom...look at me..." athletic bullshit that was plastered all over ESPN & the like. That crap was played up to such an extent, that self-absorption became not only permissible, but rather, the norm.

The minute that we became a voyueristic society that became more consumed with following contrived stories & fictitious, scripted lifestyles & began to emulate them & become absorbed with them, was the moment that we as a society jumped the shark. When life begins to imitate art, rather than the other way around, you have a society that's in trouble.

All that these kids have done is to take things to its logical next step. One things are allowed to regress & it beomes acceptable, it's only logical to believe that someone else will come along & push the envelope even further down to the curb. While the actions of many of the young totally pisses me off, the evidence proves that they are not alone in this mess.

If you want to kill weeds, you have to get them at the root. It's not popular to say this, [[passing the buck being as valuable as it is), unfortunately these roots lie within our generation, as well as the one before. THAT is the generation that had the power to stop this, instead they escalated it. Though convenient to ignore this, the fact of the matter is that it was a whole lot of grown-azzed 'WHOLESOME' adults who didn't & DON'T give a damn about our kids [[ESPECIALLY inner-city youths), who helped to set these wheels in motion. And most of them wore three-pieced suits & prayed every Sunday, as they helped to warp the minds of our kids from Monday through Saturday.

And we ALL are paying the price for their benevolent gifts!

But the KIDS are to blame.

[ms_m]

Does anyone find any truth in what I'm saying here?

You betcha, also, wink, wink!...
translation

dayum skippy!!!!!!

[luke]

Well said Reese and Juice--I found her honesty refreshing on one hand; by the way I cant help but think that the Queen of Soul needed to give her approval as to who sang in HER honor! Remember Aretha is Aretha!!.

[imnokid]

Luke
I can't say for certain what the case was here, but most of these "star studded" events are put together by the producers of the show. The artist[[s) being honored have no input. And the singers are usually given the song that they are to sing. They rarely have a choice. I can tell you for a fact that @ The Kennedy Center Honors, the recipients have no idea who will be doing their tribute until they hit the stage. The performers are asked not to discuss it with them at the pre-ceremonial party the day before.