I had no idea who Neil Portnow was until I caught wind of this incident.

The story here is that he was asked about the female representation (or lack thereof) in the Grammy nominations and his response was summarized in two simple words: "Step up".

So now he is facing backlash over this comment and his position as president of the Recording Academy may be in jeopardy as a petition has been sent out demanding he be terminated. So far the petition has received nearly 10,000 signatures.

You can read more here: http://www.complex.com/mu...-step-down

I have mixed feelings about this. After doing some digging I found out that Portnow has been president of the Academy since 2002 so all of the issues people have had with the Grammys for the past 16 years happened under him. His dismisaal could be a welcome thing but besides the obvious hesitation about who could take his place, this backlash seems over the top (which has been par for the course concerning the Grammys this year).

Thoughts?

Don't know the guy personally.

This kind of MOBBING has to stop. Or I'm gonna ridicule the fuck out of it. It's a man hunt.

Gender hunt. These guys may be old, and maybe their notions of things are pretty old... but it's a private entertainment industry. Stop BULLYING these fuqqers out of their job just because they said something calling for equality in performances. He's entitled to this opinion

2045RadicalMattZ said:

Don't know the guy personally.

This kind of MOBBING has to stop. Or I'm gonna ridicule the fuck out of it. It's a man hunt.

Gender hunt. These guys may be old, and maybe their notions of things are pretty old... but it's a private entertainment industry. Stop BULLYING these fuqqers out of their job just because they said something calling for equality in performances. He's entitled to this opinion

Thank you. Somebody had to say it

2045RadicalMattZ said:

There was a time when information obtained from the internet was considered untrustworthy, where comment sections and the idea of taking something said on twitter seriously was looked down on. And where left-field petitions didn't happen every other week.

Those days are LONG gone!

CynicKill said:

MotownSubdivision said:

2045RadicalMattZ said:

Don't know the guy personally.

This kind of MOBBING has to stop. Or I'm gonna ridicule the fuck out of it. It's a man hunt.

Gender hunt. These guys may be old, and maybe their notions of things are pretty old... but it's a private entertainment industry. Stop BULLYING these fuqqers out of their job just because they said something calling for equality in performances. He's entitled to this opinion

Yeah, I'm trying to understand why what he said is such a fireable offense. At worst, it's somewhat aloof but sexist? Misogynistic? You've got to be kidding.

These women are all going mad now. Like a drop in the water and a feeding frenzy amongst sharks ensues. He didn't need to say anything at all. And he did, most likely prompted by all these women who felt slighted because they didn't think women didn't get nominated enough. If you look at the statistics, it's no wonder. Then he didn't quite say what they wanted to hear/worded things a bit clumsy and now they want his head. Pathetic.

[Edited 2/2/18 14:39pm]

PatrickS77 said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Well he was actually asked about the lack of female nominations. He simply gave his answer and though he may have worded it in a touchy way, his intent wasn't malicious and it was clear what he was trying to say.

But if you look at the statistics, this question is stupid to begin with, since many more men work in that industry and it's a popularity contest, even between the people, who are allowed to vote. Maybe he would have best adressed that at the press conference and not during the actual show. But either way, they would have taken him apart, for simply giving his response.

PatrickS77 said: