Grammys apologizes to actress Tiffany Haddish for asking to host pre-ceremony without pay

The interim president of the Recording Academy, the group behind the Grammys, apologized to actress Tiffany Haddish for asking her to host pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony without compensation.

“It’s just been brought to my attention that the Recording Academy invited Tiffany Haddish to host this year’s premiere ceremony,” Harvey Mason Jr. said in an Instagram video Thursday.

“Unfortunately and without me knowing, the talent booker working for the Academy told Ms. Haddish that we wouldn’t even cover her costs while she hosted this event,” he said. “To me that was wrong. I’m frustrated by that decision. It was a lapse in judgment. It was in poor taste. And it’s disrespectful.”

The pre-ceremony is a three-hour livestreamed event on grammy.com leading into the 63rd Grammys, which will be hosted by Trevor Noah and is scheduled for Jan. 31, 2021, on CBS.

Haddish told Variety in an interview released Wednesday that she had been asked to host the pre-ceremony without pay. She said she turned down the job. “All of that would have to come out of my pocket,” she said. “I don’t know if this might mean I might not get nominated ever again, but I think it’s disrespectful.”

Haddish was nominated for best comedy album for Netflix’s “Black Mitzvah” — her second Grammy nomination following her best spoken word album nomination for “The Last Black Unicorn.”

A Recording Academy representative told Variety that the pre-ceremony is hosted by the Academy, a not-for-profit organization, and that presenters, hosts and performers usually do so without charge. The representative also said that the incident wouldn’t impact Haddish’s future nominations.