Fiona Apple questions boycotting the Grammys over Dr. Luke nomination
Fiona Apple has revealed that she thought about boycotting the Grammys over Dr. Luke being nominated at next year’s ceremony.
Speaking in a new interview with The Guardian, Apple discussed the Recording Academy’s decision to nominate the producer (under the pseudonym Tyson Trax) despite Kesha’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her.
“I’m bringing up the Grammys and that’s really something that I shouldn’t be doing, but really, Dr. Luke is nominated?” Apple said. “They had [Kesha] up there singing ‘Praying’ and now they’re gonna go: ‘Oh but it’s Tyson Trax!’”
She continued: “I keep going back to them putting Kesha on stage like, ‘We believe you’ – and I believe her – then two years later, fucking Tyson Trax. Not to go back to that word, but it’s bullshit.
“The feeling of wanting to celebrate with these women was genuine. But I should have that feeling anyway. I don’t know if anybody who’s nominated can help having the thought: what would I do If I won?
“My vision was that I would just get up there with a sledgehammer and I wouldn’t say anything, I would take the Grammy and smash it into enough pieces to share and I would invite all the ladies up. My second thought was I wonder if I can get all these ladies to boycott this shit because of Dr. Luke.”
Elsewhere during Apple’s interview, she also discussed the Recording Academy’s decision to suspend President and CEO Deborah Dugan.
“I’m waiting to hear more about what Deborah Dugan has to say [about the culture at the Recording Academy] because that all reeks to me,” she said.
“When you hire somebody and they raise questions and then they get fired? There’s a lot of things that she brought up that make it so that I can’t vet that situation and I don’t really wanna go there and support it.”
Meanwhile, a judge at New York’s Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Kesha defamed Dr. Luke after she sent a text to Lady Gaga, claiming he raped Katy Perry.
The 32-year-old singer was ordered to pay the producer, real name Lukasz Gottwald, $374,000 in late royalty fees on February 7.