In the now infamous NYTimes Q&A with Kanye West, the rapper spends some time talking about what awards like the Grammys mean to him.
Here’s what he said:
“I don’t know if this is statistically right, but I’m assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven’t won one against a white person.
But the thing is, I don’t care about the Grammys; I just would like for the statistics to be more accurate.”
Kanye just wants the Grammys to be more accurate with their stats, because they haven’t been.
And the Grammys aren’t the only awards show with these problems. Over the years, no one has gotten it more constantly wrong than The Emmys, an awards show that rewards safeness, ignores diversity.
Here’s the most egregious examples we could find.
The Wire
Remember last year when Manny Pacquiao was robbed of a decision against Timothy Bradley and everyone was outraged? Well where was that outrage when the Baltimore-based HBO series The Wire was robbed five seasons in a row. Despite being critically acclaimed throughout The Wire’s run, the show has never won an Emmy. In fact, the show, which is widely looked at as the greatest show of all time, was only nominated for two Outstanding Writing Emmys throughout its run — for season three and five. This show could have won 100 Emmys and it wouldn’t have been enough.
OZ
Without OZ there would have been no The Sopranos. Without The Sopranos there would have been no The Wire. Without The Wire there would be no Breaking Bad. You see how that works? With the success of OZ, the first hour long dramatic television series to be produced by a premium channel, the era of smarty, gritty television was officially born.
Married With Children
In 2013, we’re used to our favorite comedy shows having a certain level of vulgarity. There’s a million TV shows that feature nasty, dysfunctional families. And all that shit started with Married with Children, an amazingly funny, crude show considering that it started in the ’80s. What’s beautiful about Married with Children is that it still holds up. if you’re ever at the crib at like 1:30 pm on a Tuesday, or something, hit TV Land. It’s still freakin’ funny.
Roseanne
Saw what we wrote about Married with Children? Lather, rinse, repeat.
Beavis and Butthead
When it comes to picking winners, the Emmys are famous for making the safe vanilla pick. (Throughout the ’90s Frasier won, like, a million Outstanding Comedy awards. The dude that played Frasier, Kelsey Grammer, literally looks like vanilla pudding.) Beavis and Butthead, a hilarious show about two loser teenagers, is the furthest thing from being vanilla.
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Throughout the ’90s, there were very few shows funnier, more popular than The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The show starred Will Smith, who even at a young age you could see was a star. Yet, the show never took home an Emmy. Why? Who knows, but we suspect it has something to do with the color of the show…bright colors wouldn’t be accepted until the 2000s.
Martin
Yeah, if The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, starring a clean cut Will Smith, couldn’t win an Emmy, then Martin, which was a little more twisted, a little dirtier, had no shot. That doesn’t make a complete snub anymore right.
The Shield
Maybe it was the channel, FX, but for years, The Shield was a show that probably should have gotten a lot more love from everyone. The show went on for seven seasons, and there’s not a weak season to be found (something that even The Sopranos can’t say.) The Shield also has one of the all-time great last episodes.
Treme
Damn, whom did David Simon piss off? Simon is the guy who created The Wire and Treme, two shows that the Emmys robbed. No Treme, which is based in post-Katrina New Orleans, isn’t The Wire good. But it’s damn good, and it features strong performances from most of the staff.
