Feb 8: Ariana Grande has blasted Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich, insisting he’s the reason she’s not performing at the ceremony on Sunday.
Ehrlich has gone on record about the singer’s absence, telling the media she felt it was “too late to pull something together” when he told her she couldn’t perform her hit single 7 Rings on his show.
The Grammys boss claims he told Ariana the song wasn’t appropriate for the ceremony and he asked her to pick another, but after several conversations, she decided not to perform or attend music’s big night.
Grande has now taken issue with his side of the story, taking to Twitter on Thursday to grill him.
Grammys, Ariana Grande trade words about axed performance
“I’ve kept my mouth shut but now you’re lying about me,” she wrote. “I can pull together a performance over night and you know that, Ken. It was when my creativity & self-expression was stifled by you that I decided not to attend. I hope the show is exactly what you want it to be and more.”
Reports suggest Ariana’s team and Ehrlich came up with a compromise, which would allow the singer to perform a snippet from her current number one and another song the show’s producers would pick as part of a medley.
Grande writes: “I offered 3 different songs. it’s about collaboration. it’s about feeling supported. it’s about art and honesty. not politics. not doing favors or playing games. it’s just a game y’all… and I’m sorry but that’s not what music is to me.”
The performance would have been Grande’s first since releasing her new album, Thank U, Next, which drops on Friday.
Kendrick Lamar, who leads all nominees at the 2019 Grammys, Drake, and Childish Gambino have also reportedly declined offers to perform at the ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, claiming producers are out of touch with hip-hop.
Camila Cabello will open the show with fellow Latino stars Ricky Martin and J Balvin and there will also be performances from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves, Yolanda Adams, and Little Big Town, among others.
