Comments from Recording Academy President Neil Portnow about the lack of female representation at the Grammy Awards have generated backlash from some of the most powerful women in music. (Jan. 30, 2018)
Recording Academy President Neil Portnow's recent thoughts on women in the music industry were taken out of context, he says.
Portnow came under fire after his comments Sunday regarding the lack of female representation at Sunday's Grammy Awards ceremony.
"It has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level, to step up," Portnow told Variety.
"Because I think they would be welcome. I don't have personal experience of those kind of brick walls that you face," he added. "It's us as an industry making a welcome mat very obvious _ creating mentorships, creating opportunities for all people who want to be creative, and, really, paying it forward, and creating that next generation of artists who feel like they can do anything, say anything."
On Tuesday a representative for Portnow issued a statement to The Times to clarify his remarks.
"[Sunday] night, I was asked a question about the lack of female artist representation in certain categories of this year's Grammy Awards," it read. "Regrettably, I used two words, 'step up,' that, when taken out of context, do not convey my beliefs and the point I was trying to make.
"I regret that I wasn't as articulate as I should have been in conveying this thought," Portnow added. "I remain committed to doing everything I can to make our music community a better, safer, and more representative place for everyone."
The backlash against his "step up" comment began almost immediately and reached the highest levels of women in music.
Three-time Grammy winner Pink, who performed at Sunday's ceremony, shared an image of a handwritten note Monday afternoon that she wrote in response to Portnow's words.
"Women in music don't need to 'step up' � women have been stepping since the beginning of time. Stepping up, and also stepping aside. Women OWNED music this year. They've been KILLING IT. And every year before this," the singer scrawled.
"When we celebrate and honor the talent and accomplishments of women, and how much women STEP UP every year, against all odds, we show the next generation of women and girls and boys and men what it means to be equal, and what it looks like to be fair," Pink concluded.
Elsewhere on social media there were calls for Portnow not to step up _ but rather step down from his post.
Veteran singer-songwriter and Grammy darling Sheryl Crow weighed in.
"I wish the #Grammys would return to female/male categories," she tweeted on Monday. "Who will young girls be inspired by to pick up a guitar and rock when most every category is filled with men? I'm not sure it is about women needing to 'step up', (as said by the male in charge). #GrammysSoMale."
Others treated it as an overreaction considering that in recent years artists such as Adele, Taylor Swift and Beyonce took home multiple awards.
Of the nine awards handed out during the televised portion of the Grammys Sunday night, only one woman took home honors of her own. Alessia Cara won the Grammy for best new artist, while Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman shared honors when their group, Little Big Town, was awarded best country duo/group performance.
Overall, though, women have been significantly underrepresented in recent years, according to a recent USC study. It noted that out of 889 nominations from 2013 through 2018, only 9.3 percent went to females.
Times staff writer Randy Lewis contributed to this report.
