(AllHipHop News) Chuck D has blasted the Recording Academy over its suspension of president and CEO Deborah Dugan.
On Thursday, it was confirmed that Dugan had been placed on administrative leave ahead of the 2020 Grammy Awards, due to what the Recording Academy Board of Trustees called “serious concerns” regarding her behavior – including a “formal allegation” by a “senior female member of the Recording Academy team.”
The following day, she hit back at the suspension through her attorney, stating that she would soon “expose what happens when you ‘step up’ at the Recording Academy.”
Rapper Chuck, real name Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, released a scathing statement suggesting Dugan was punished for attempting to bring change to the organization.
“As always, a bunch of ignorant, testosterone-fueled, usually old white men stop progress and screw it up. Same old bullsh##,” the Public Enemy member wrote. “They want to keep it status quo and make sure things like Hip Hop stay the poster child of their f##kery.”
Public Enemy will receive a Lifetime Achievement award from the Recording Academy in April.
Chuck revealed he had to “haggle” to include current Public Enemy member DJ Lord, who has been with the band since 1998 but was not present during its heyday.
The group previously chose to boycott the 1989 Grammys over the Academy’s refusal “to acknowledge a new art form called Hip Hop/Rap.”
While the MC is complimentary of Dugan, he added, “it was obvious she was having her own struggles” with the Academy when he spoke with her, referencing the name of his group’s 2005 album, concluding: “I’m not surprised that Deborah Dugan is out. I am appalled because it reeks of the same old jive, a New Whirl Odor that considers the masses simply as ‘them a####’.”
The 62nd annual Grammy Awards take place in Los Angeles on January 26th.
