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Samaritan Feature: US Recording Academy Chastened Over Insensitive Remarks

Academy CEO Neil Portnow set off a firestorm with recent comments about women in the industry (or lack thereof) that are deemed out-of-touch. He's now recanted, as Karen Bliss explains.

Samaritan Feature: US Recording Academy Chastened Over Insensitive Remarks

By Karen Bliss

Following upsetting and out-of-touch comments Recording Academy president/CEO Neil Portnow made after the Grammy Awards Sunday night (Jan. 28), calling for women to “step up” if they want to be executives in the music industry, he has released an official statement “to the music community.” It's his second statement about the remarks.


In addition to acknowledging “the hurt that my poor choice of words” caused and insisting they are “not reflective of my beliefs,” he announced that the Recording Academy — the member-led U.S. organization of music industry professionals —behind the Grammys will put together an independent task force to review and identify “where we can do more to overcome the explicit barriers and unconscious biases that impede female advancement in the music community.”

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Portnow made his original remarks to Variety Sunday evening, after the Grammy’s, when asked about the poor representation of females on the televised show.

“It has to begin with… women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level…,” he said. “[They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome. I don’t have personal experience of those kinds of brick walls that you face but I think it’s upon us — us as an industry — to make the welcome mat very obvious, breeding opportunities for all people who want to be creative and paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists.”

His words caused a fury – continue reading on the Samaritan magazine website

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Kneecap Blasts Norwegian Government at Oslo Festival, Accusing It of Funding ‘Genocide’ Against Palestinians
Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Mo Chara, DJ Provaí and Móglaí Bap of Kneecap performs on the West Holts Stage during during day four of Glastonbury Festival 2025 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 28, 2025 in Glastonbury, England.

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Kneecap Blasts Norwegian Government at Oslo Festival, Accusing It of Funding ‘Genocide’ Against Palestinians

The Irish rap trio went after the Norwegian government over its investments, which are currently under scrutiny, at Øyafestivalen.

Irish rap group Kneecap – which has drawn a storm of criticism, support, attention and legal action over the past half-year – continued to speak out about the war in Gaza during an afternoon set at the Øyafestivalen in Oslo, Norway, on Friday (Aug. 8).

Right before the trio of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí took the stage, an English-language white-text-on-black-background message played on a video screen, accusing the Norwegian government of “enabling” the “genocide” against the Palestinian people via investments held in the county’s sovereign wealth fund (referenced as “oil pension fund” in the message). “Over 80,000 people have been murdered by Israel in 21 months,” the band’s message continued. “Free Palestine.” The message was greeted readily by a cheering audience. Most estimates (including those from health officials in the area) place the Palestinian death toll at more than 60,000. That number does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas militants. An estimated 18,500 of those killed were children.

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