Jay-Z took to the stage at the Grammys and called out the awards show for ‘snubbing’ his wife Beyoncé – but now everyone is pointing out the irony of his speech.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter, has been named as one of the greatest rappers of all time.
The 54-year-old has released several tracks throughout his career, including ‘Empire State Of Mind’ and ‘Run This Town’.
Jay-Z has also dropped several hits with his wife, Beyoncé, including ‘Crazy in Love’, ‘Déjà Vu’ and ‘Drunk in Love’.
And while ‘Queen Bey’ has had a hugely successful career of her own, she’s never won the Grammys’ Album of the Year award – despite having many albums that have dominated the charts.
Making it clear he’s not happy about this, Jay-Z has gone viral at the Grammys by calling it out.
The rapper found his moment to make a dig when he went up on stage alongside his daughter, Blue Ivy, 12, to collect the Dr Dre Global Impact Award – which he was awarded to celebrate his many achievements.
During his speech, Jay-Z referenced his wife and said: “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year.
“Think about that. Most Grammys never won Album of the Year, that doesn’t work.
“Some of you will go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed, some of you may get robbed, some of you don’t belong in the category.
“When I get nervous, I tell the truth.
“At least getting close to right. And obviously, it’s subjective. Y’all don’t gotta clap at everything. Obviously, it’s subjective because, you know, it’s music and it’s opinion-based.”
These comments seemingly led to an awkward murmuring amongst the audience, but then Jay-Z encouraged people to ‘keep showing up’ in life – making it a positive end to his speech.
While many of Beyoncé’s fans will certainly agree with her husband’s words, others have taken to social media and pointed out this isn’t the first time the issue has been addressed.
Back in 2009, Kanye West left people gobsmacked when he grabbed the microphone from Taylor Swift at the VMAs to claim that Beyoncé should have won the award instead of the ‘Shake It Off’ artist.
The now 34-year-old accepted her award from Shakira at the time and began her speech, saying: “Thank you so much!
“I always dreamed about what it would be like to maybe win one of these someday, but I never thought it actually would have happened. I sing country music. So thank you so much for giving me the chance to win a VMA Award! I -”
Scandalously, West then appeared from his front-row seat and took the microphone from Swift’s hand, stating (via Vox): “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish… But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!”
Referencing this infamous pop culture moment, one person has taken to X (formerly known as Twitter) to joke: “Jay-Z’s full Kanye moment. It’s all happening.”
“Jay-Z telling the nominees at the Grammys that some of them don’t belong in the categories makes him seem pretentious and mean. It’s giving Kanye West interrupting Taylor on stage,” another adds.
Somebody else comments: “Never forget…Kanye West stood up for Beyonce before Jay-Z ever did…”
A fourth says: “Jay-Z took a page out of Kanye’s book to roast the Grammys lol.”
