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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Emma Pryer

Grammy bosses order stars to behave after Will Smith slap overshadowed Oscars

Goss was in LA last week to see the fury that the Will Smith-Chris Rock altercation provoked among higher ranks at the Academy.

So it’s little wonder the Grammys ’ bosses are doing everything they can to make sure there isn’t a repeat performance tonight.

The stars have been put under strict orders to behave… or else!

There are rumours they could be banned or even stripped of their gongs if they don’t comply.

Security will be at an all-time high in case any rogue celebs or guests might want to storm the stage

The organisers of the 64th awards – which will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and hosted by Trevor Noah of The Daily Show – are also warning artists to be cautious about what they say on stage.

A source tells me: “These awards have taken months of organising after what has already been a very stop-start process, and after the Oscars, the organisers don’t want anything affecting the night. A lot saw it as a huge shame that deserving winners saw their glory overshadowed at the Oscars.

“And with the spotlight firmly on the biggest music event in the US calendar, there’s a lot riding on it being a success, so they’re just keen for artists to be respectful and tread carefully about what they say of others and how they behave generally.”

The Grammys has already been postponed from its original January 31 date amid concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant.

It was scheduled to be held in Los Angeles but has now been moved to Sin City. So with all of this in the mix, organisers have reportedly barred Kanye West from performing because of “concerning online behaviour”.

The Daily Show's Trevor Noah will host the Grammys (Getty Images for National Board of Review)

But there may be a last-minute U-turn after talks were held with the Recording Academy. Kanye was recently locked out of Instagram for 24 hours over a racial slur against a television show host.

He has also been criticised for his online posts targeting his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her current partner, comedian Pete Davidson.

The Grammys has often attracted controversy in the past.

Bob Dylan’s 1998 performance was famously interrupted by artist Michael Portnoy.

And Will Smith expressed his frustration in 1989 after the Academy announced it was debuting a new category, Best Rap Performance, but it wouldn’t be televised. He therefore opted to skip the awards show that year.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly tonight…

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