--- title: Grammys President Doesn't Think There's a Race Problem description: Grammys president Neil Portnow said that he doesn't think that the recording academy suffers from a race problem. canonical: https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-15T17:32:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:35.953Z og:title: Grammys President: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem' og:description: "It's always hard to create objectivity out of something that's subjective" og:url: https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4c8f7abe4f6307/6988ba6eab6d7708ed6ace18/grammys-president-says-awards-not-racist.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The 59th GRAMMY Awards - Roaming Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Grammys President: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem' twitter:description: "It's always hard to create objectivity out of something that's subjective" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4c8f7abe4f6307/6988ba6eab6d7708ed6ace18/grammys-president-says-awards-not-racist.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Grammys President Neil Portnow: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem at All' ## Video: What Is The Grammy Bounce? (No, It’s Not A Dance Move) [Watch (HLS stream): What Is The Grammy Bounce? (No, It’s Not A Dance Move)](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LXjNxjjl.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2017-02-09. What do Beck, Sam Smith, and Adele all have In common? The 'Grammy Bounce.'_  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 15, 2017 5:32 PM UTC  President/CEO of The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Foundation President/CEO Neil Portnow (L) and Adele backstage during during the The 59th GRAMMY Awards. President/CEO of The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Foundation President/CEO Neil Portnow (L) and Adele backstage during during the The 59th GRAMMY Awards.Michael Kovac—Getty Images for NARAS  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 15, 2017 5:32 PM UTC As Adele’s _25_ beat Beyonce’s _Lemonade_ to the top prizes at this year’s Grammys, it was the latest in a series of controversial award-winners prompting [backlash from some artists and viewers alike](http://time.com/4668626/adele-beyonce-grammys-2017-reactions/). The ceremony was no exception, drawing criticism from those who feel the academy has [consistently undervalued black artists](time.com/4669085/grammys-2017-beyonce-album-of-the-year-adele/). Following the ceremony, in an interview with [_Pitchfork_](http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1443-grammys-boss-neil-portnow-on-race-boycotts-and-working-with-washington/) Recording Academy president Neil Portnow responded to the question “do you think the Grammys has a race problem?” --- > “” --- Portnow added that the academy takes the work of expanding their membership to be more inclusive seriously. “We are always working on increasing diversity in membership, whether it’s ethnicity, gender, genre, or age,” he said. “In order to maintain our relevance, we have to be refreshing all the time and we have to be doing that across the board.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/"},"headline":"Grammys President Neil Portnow: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem at All'","datePublished":"2017-02-15T17:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:35.953Z","description":"\"It's always hard to create objectivity out of something that's inherently subjective\"","url":"https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","Beyonce","grammys","Adele","Grammys 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4c8f7abe4f6307/6988ba6eab6d7708ed6ace18/grammys-president-says-awards-not-racist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4c8f7abe4f6307/6988ba6eab6d7708ed6ace18/grammys-president-says-awards-not-racist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 59th GRAMMY Awards - Roaming Show","caption":"The 59th GRAMMY Awards - Roaming Show","creditText":"Michael Kovac—Getty Images for NARAS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4671779/grammys-president-no-race-problem/","name":"Grammys President Neil Portnow: 'I Don't Think There's a Race Problem at All'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What Is The Grammy Bounce? 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