“You were busy racking up one Grammy after another”: The Weeknd called out by Victor Willis for refusing to perform

The Weeknd has been voicing his opinions louder in regards to the Grammys and has called out the organization as “Corrupt”, despite galvanizing recent rule changes for the Recording Academy. But the singer’s response appears to have rubbed Village People founder, Victor Willis in the wrong way.

On May 10, 2021 - The “Y.M.C.A.” songwriter wrote a jarring open letter to Abel Makkonen “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, asking the singer to tone down his attack against the Grammys.

Victor Willis says The Weeknd benefitted from The Grammys secret committees

It must be noted that Willis has also had his fair share of differences with Grammys. The open letter begins with Willis writing:

"Psst, 'The weeknd,' lighten up on the Grammys already why don't cha!?"

Readers can find the letter from Facebook below.

Victor Willis went on to point out Abel’s bias in resenting the Recording Academy’s secret voting committees, since the singer bagged his award through the same process. Furthermore, he piled on the “Blinding Lights” artist for “not handling this in the spirit of black protest of this important issue”.

The letter openly confronts The Weeknd for racking up his Grammy wins through the secret committees, while other People of Color artists where pushing “honest complaints” regarding the secret jury board.

Willis claimed that since the old rules in place don’t benefit The Weeknd anymore, it has prompted the artists’ claims of corruption at the Grammys.

Why The Weeknd is attacking Grammys?

Image via Euphoriazine

For the uninitiated, Earlier in November 2020, The Weeknd called out The Grammys for remaining corrupt and went on to say the organization owes “me, my fans and the industry transparency.”

After facing fierce criticism from The Weeknd, prior to 2021 Grammys, the Recording Academy announced that there will be significant changes to the Awards process, along with the elimination of mostly all controversial “secret” nominee deciding committees.

Though Victor implied that The Weeknd is a hypocrite, he added that the singer was way too talented to keep “pouting” about the Grammys.

The legendary artist further claimed that Abel seems to be “out for blood” even after the organization eliminated the secret committee.

Victor ended the letter on Facebook by asking The Weeknd to cut Harvey Mason Jr. “some slack” stating that the African American, who was recently appointed chief of the Academy, has been striving towards “real meaningful and historic changes” for the sake of the music industry.

Abel has not responded to Willis' open letter yet.