The letter was spearheaded by Tom Windish, an employee at Paradigm Talent Agency, whose roster includes Lorde.
The latest installment in the backlash against Grammy president Neil Portnow’s now-rescinded statement calling for women to “ step up ” is a letter signed by 38 male music executives calling for more female representation at the awards show.
As pointed out by Variety, the letter was spearheaded by Tom Windish, an employee at Paradigm Talent Agency, which counts Lorde — the most notable female exception from performance time at this year’s Grammys — on their roster, and includes other agents, managers, and attorneys that exist in Windish’s close industry circle.
While the letter didn’t call for Portnow to step down from his position as was the call to action in a widespread petition, it did request that the Recording Academy “reveal the diversity (and/or the lack thereof) of its voting members and make necessary changes to the population of the Academy to better reflect the diverse music business voices the organization is meant to serve.” Check out the letter’s full text below.
Still reeling from the backlash of his comments, Portnow announced last week that the Academy was forming a “ task force ” to address their problems with gender diversity. In an ideal world, we should see Lorde will nab some retroactive awards, though I doubt she’d even accept them.
