Beck Responds to Kanye West's Onstage Interruption

As old beekeeping wisdom goes, disturb the Queen and you’ll have to deal with the whole hive. When Grammy voters awarded Beck — and not Beyoncé — Album of the Year, they had to know they were awakening a sleeping monster, a monster named Kanye West.

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"I just know that the Grammys, if they want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us," West told E! after Sunday night’s ceremony. "We ain’t gonna play with them no more. And Beck needs to respect artistry and he should’ve given his award to Beyoncé."

Both Beck and Bey were up for Album of the Year; Beck for Morning Phase, his first album since 2008, and Beyoncé for her self-titled fifth album which she dropped as a complete surprise in December 2013. Before the ceremony, Beyoncé was the favorite to win but, in the surprise of the night, Morning Phase took home the night’s top honor.

[Related: Why Beyoncé, Not Ledisi, Performed With John Legend at the Grammys]

When West stormed the stage during the ceremony, most viewers thought he was joking as a nod to his now-infamous “Imma let you finish” moment with Taylor Swift at the VMAs in 2009. As it turns out, he was as serious as 808s & Heartbreak.

But Beck says he has no hard feelings for West following the incident.

"I thought she was going to win," Beck admitted to reporters backstage. "Come on, she’s Beyoncé! … I was just so excited he was coming up. He deserves to be on stage as much as anybody. How many great records has he put out in the last five years, right?"

In an interview with Rolling Stone, fellow nominee Sam Smith had promised to give his award to Beyoncé should he come out on top Sunday night. While he did win three of the other major awards — Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist — he did not take home Album of the Year, thus letting him off on a technicality.

For her part, Mrs. Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, seemed to share her husband’s sentiments, uploading a picture on Instagram of herself, Chrissy Teigen, and John Legend with the caption, “This is the Beck won that award face?!?!?!”

[Related: 2015 Grammy Awards: Moments the Cameras Missed]

But Kanye and Kim weren’t the only ones defending Queen BeySunday night. Minutes after he won Album of the Year, Beck’s Wikipedia page was altered, calling him the “Grammy stealer of the century.” Because this is the Internet, Beck’s fans immediately fired back writing that, “This article is about a man who has achieved 3 decades of musical success mainly by himself. For the woman who needed 5 songwriters and 2 vocalists behind her to achieve any decent level of success, see Beyoncé.”

It’s Monday. Winter is far from over. It feels like everyone could use a breather here.