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Grammys 2018: Ed Sheeran’s Win Over Kesha Slammed As ‘Homophobic’ And ‘Sexist’

By Emily Hutchinson
Published on: 22:42 PST, Jan 28, 2018

The internet seriously isn’t happy after seeing Ed Sheeran take home two Grammy awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album at last night’s (January 28) award show. After Sheeran, who didn’t attend the awards in New York City, won for his track “Shape of You” and album Divide over Kesha’s “Praying” and Rainbow, Twitter was abuzz with fans slamming the choice and claiming it was both “sexist” and “homophobic.”

Social media was flooded with angry tweets from many Grammy watchers who claimed Kesha deserved the awards, particularly for Best Pop Solo Performance, pointing out that her track “Praying” was inspired by her own experience of sexual assault, which is arguably more relevant now than ever amid the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.

And it’s safe to say that angry fans didn’t hold back when it came to making their opinions heard after seeing many male and female artists walk the red carpet with white roses in support of those who have been victims of an abuse of power.

“Does nobody see what’s wrong here? Kesha wrote ‘Praying’ after all the abuse she went through… and Ed Sheeran wrote a song when he was horny over some girl and won the award,” said @keshacrazyfans on the social media site of the controversial win at the Grammys. “The music industry is f***ed up. Smh #GRAMMYs.”

“Kesha went through years of trauma and abuse, a legal battle lasting for years, and performed one of her best and most emotional performances of her life for ‘Praying,'” tweeted another fan on January 28. “Ed Sheeran sang a rejected Rihanna song for ‘Shape Of You.'”

“They once again [show] how sexist the whole thing is and how the male bigots run everything,” claimed another social media user after seeing the singer/songwriter win as the show aired live across the U.S. “Kesha should have won the categories she was nominated in.”

Others then claimed Sheeran’s win was somehow “homophobic” after he also took home the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for Divide over Kesha and other female acts including Lady Gaga for her album Joanne and Lana Del Ray for her latest release, Lust For Life.

Kesha performing at the 2018 Grammy Awards.

Some alleged that because the female acts may have lost out because they are so outspoken about their support of the LGBT community.

“Ed Sheeran winning over Lana, Gaga and Kesha is peak homophobia because [their] fans are gay intellectuals with good music taste,” one fan claimed, while another then tweeted, “Today I witness homophobia, sexism. Ed… give [your] award to Gaga, Lana, Kesha or Lorde.”

However, while many called out the Grammys and the recording academy on social media, others were quick to defend Ed’s big win over Kesha during the big music award show.

“Are people really saying that Ed winning a Grammy over Kesha is considered a display of the industries abuse of power?” asked one Twitter user amid the backlash from fans from across the globe. “Like, is a man not allowed to win something without it being bad? or sexist? I’m so lost.”

Another then pointed out after fans slammed Sheeran across social media that “Shape of You” saw more commercial success, tweeting that the track had more than 3.1 billion views on YouTube to “Praying’s” 74 million views.

“Ed Sheeran deserved his awards,” Twitter user @backseatchic then wrote in defense of the star after social media was flooded with comments calling out the newly engaged singer for his multiple Grammy wins.

“Man puts on a show with just him & a guitar. So much talent. I get being sad because your [favorite] artist didn’t win but don’t act like he didn’t deserve it,” they added.

Ed Sheeran and Kesha are yet to publicly comment on the 2018 Grammys controversy, though Kesha did thank the recording academy after performing an incredibly emotional rendition of “Praying” during the broadcast, where she was joined by a slew of other female artists including Camila Cabello and Cyndi Lauper.

Sharing a photo of the ladies all dressed in white as they took to the stage together, she told her followers of her night at the Grammys, “Thank you to the [Recording Academy], the women on stage with me tonight, and everyone who has supported me through this whole journey.”

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