Childish Gambino didn’t attend the Grammys but he won and made history anyway

Childish Gambino wins Grammys while simultaneously making history but doesn’t attend the award ceremony. Did Childish Gambino purposely not attend the Grammys?

Hip-hop was shining during the 61st Grammy awards with artists like Drake, Childish Gambino, and Cardi B taking home the prestigious music award. Notably, Childish Gambino made history as the first rapper to win Song of the Year and Record of the Year for “This is America.”

For the record, these are two of the most recognized awards of the night, and he is the first to do this from the hip-hop realm. And it didn’t stop there for the great Gambino, he also racked up awards for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Music Video.

Gambino, a.k.a. Donald Glover, received a total of four Grammys, made history, and didn’t even attend the event. If that isn’t epic, I don’t know what is.

Producer Ludwig Göransson accepted the awards on his behalf, but even he admitted that he didn’t know why Gambino was not at the Grammys. While Gambino has not come forward to say why he wasn’t at the award ceremony personally, some speculate he may have been absent in protest of the recording academy’s longtime tendency of ignoring rappers in major categories.

According to Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich, both Drake and Kendrick Lamar declined to perform at the award show for this very reason, and they both had the most nominations. Gambino also declined to perform at the Grammys. Most rappers who are placed in major categories are hyped up and let down year after year, so maybe they were all just sick of getting dolled up and sweating it out during a performance, only to end up going home empty-handed.

Despite not performing, Drake did attend and won Best Rap Song, but was cut off abruptly during his speech when he tried to express his feelings about the awards show which came in the form of advice to the youth. The Grammys claim that Drake’s pause caused them to send the show to commercial. But the truth behind what Drake stated, still remains. Successful hip-hop artists that are featured in major categories rarely take home the big prizes, this year just happens to be an exception.

It is still possible that Childish Gambino didn’t make the award show because he had a prior engagement. Let’s not forget that he is also a super talented actor. But if the Grammy-winning “This is America” says anything at all about Donald Glover, it’s that he is someone that is vocal about what he stands up for, so we may find out soon enough.