There has been longtime speculation that the GRAMMY Awards are “rigged.” Whether there is truth in this speculation, or it was birthed from salty fans and poor nomination choices, every artist still dreams of hoisting up a GRAMMY award on that stage.

Ex-One Direction star and successful soloist Zayn Malik took his opinion to Twitter yesterday, tweeting “F—k the Grammys and everyone associated. Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there’s no nominations considerations.” This tweet is coming on the heels of quite possibly the biggest GRAMMY snub of all time: The Weeknd.

After a prolific 2020 with chart topping hit “Blinding Lights,” the artist still left empty handed. So, is it bribery? Halsey certainly thought so last year, when she posted on IG saying, “It can often be about behind the scenes private performances, knowing the right people, campaigning through the grapevine, with the right handshakes and ‘bribes’ that can be just ambiguous enough to pass as ‘not-bribes.’” Zayn is not alone in believing the GRAMMY's are corrupt, and his Twitter jab is more like a heavy left hook for the GRAMMY Awards, which air this Sunday, March 14th. With the award show looming in the near future, the question remains: are the GRAMMY's guilty of bribery?