Frank Ocean Calls Taylor Swift's 2016 Grammys Album of the Year Win "Most Faulty TV Moment" He's Ever Seen

R&B artist opened up in a blog post about his decision to abstain from this year's awards

By Francesca Bacardi Feb 12, 2017 3:35 PMTags

Frank Ocean notably abstained from submitting his albums Blonde and Endless for 2017 Grammy Awards consideration, and now we have a little more insight into why.

Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich and writer David Wild gave an interview to Rolling Stone Saturday and said they felt Ocean's 2013 performance of "Forrest Gump" was "faulty" and "not great TV." The creative team behind the award show implied that was the reason why Ocean stayed away from the ceremony this year, but Ocean couldn't disagree more. The "Novacane" crooner penned a passionate note on his Tumblr page responding to the interview and slammed The Recording Academy's decision to give Taylor Swift's 1989 Album of the Year.

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"Ok Ken (and David). As much as I hate to make you guys famous or even respond to you directly. We all die one day and you're old so f--k it. Yea yea my 2013 performance at the Grammys was absolute s--t. Technical difficulties, blah blah. Thanks for the reminder. Very much appreciated. F--k that performance though. You think that's why I kept my work out of the Grammy process this year? Don't you think I would've wanted to play the show to 'redeem' myself if I felt that way?" he wrote online Saturday. 

"In reality, I actually wanted to participate in honoring Prince on the show but then I figured my best tribute to that man's legacy would be to continue to be myself out here and to be successful. Winning a TV award doesn't christen me successful. It took me some time to learn that. I bought all my masters back last year in the prime of my career, that's successful. Blonde sold a million plus without a label, that's successful. I am young, black, gifted and independent...that's my tribute."

Ocean went on to use Ehrlich's and Wild's words against them to explain why Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly should've won instead. 

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"I've actually been tuning into CBS around this time of year for a while to see who gets the top honor and you know what's really not 'great TV' guys? 1989 getting album of the year over To Pimp A Butterfly. Hands down one of the most 'faulty' TV moments I've seen. Believe the people. Believe the ones who'd rather watch select performances from your program on YouTube the day after because your show puts them to sleep. Use the old gramophone to actually listen bro, I'm one of the best alive. And if you're up for a discussion about the cultural bias and general nerve damage the show you produce suffers from then I'm all for it. Have a good night."

And that's all he wrote.