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Despite recent controversies and backlashes, Louis C.K. and Dave Chappelle have been recognized by the Recording Academy and nominated for prizes at the 2022 Grammy Awards.
Hundreds of artists have been nominated for their work over the last year in multiple categories but the two comedians stand out due to recent headlines.
Louis C.K. is nominated in the Best Comedy Album category while Dave Chappelle is up for the Best Spoken Word Album, though there are more comedians and musicians nominated who also share checkered histories too.
Best Comedy Album nominees
Louis C.K. stepped out of the spotlight after a number of sexual misconduct allegations were made against him in 2017. It led to his movie I Love You, Daddy getting dropped by the distributors, and multiple TV networks including HBO, FX and Netflix cutting ties with the comedian. His voice role was also recast in Gravity Falls and The Secret Life of Pets 2.
Despite all the negative attention, he returned in 2020 with his stand-up special Sincerely Louis CK, which has now been nominated for a Grammy Award. C.K. even addresses the sexual assault misconduct within the performance.
Many other artists in the Best Comedy Album category have faced their own scandals over the years too. The entire list of nominees are:
- The Comedy Vaccine – Lavell Crawford
- Evolution – Chelsea Handler
- Sincerely Louis CK – Louis C.K.
- Thanks for Risking Your Life – Lewis Black
- The Greatest Average American – Nate Bargatze
- Zero F***s Given – Kevin Hart
Though he's largely had a successful career, Hart's homophobic tweets from 2011 resurfaced in 2018 which led to him stepping down from hosting the 2019 Oscars.
In the year 2000, Black was arrested alongside Jim Norton for their involvement in "The Naked Teen Voyeur Bus," which was a stunt performed for the Opie and Anthony radio show. In 2017 Crawford faced backlash after publicly saying that to him being gay is "still f****** weird."
Chelsea Handler has faced criticism for her on-air comments and has previously apologized for making racist comments on The Tonight Show, and for sharing a controversial anti-Semitic video on social media.
Other surprising nominations
Dave Chappelle's recent backlash from the transgender community has been well documented but he's still nominated for Best Spoken Word Album for 8:46, which he released with Amir Sulaiman. Other nominees in this category are Barack Obama, LeVar Burton, Don Cheadle and J. Ivy.
Despite the recent sexual assault allegations made against Marilyn Manson, he's still nominated for a Grammy thanks to his involvement with Kanye West's album Donda. Incidentally, Chris Brown is also credited as a producer on the album.
The potentially problematic nominations have angered some online, with many Twitter users voicing their frustration at the news.
Louis CK, Kevin Hart, and Dave Chappelle were all nominated for Grammys?
— Adrienne Lawrence, Esq. (@AdrienneLaw) November 23, 2021
If this is "cancel culture," may every woman comedian I know be cancelled instead of simply underpaid and unrecognized. ?
Marilyn Manson and Louis CK were both nominated for Grammies today. A long time ago I used to keep a running document of all the accolades and new jobs that were given to men who had been publicly accused of sexual abuse, but it got too long and became corrosive to my soul. ?
— Moira Donegan (@MoiraDonegan) November 23, 2021
The 64th Annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on January 31, 2022, and will air on CBS.
About the writer
Jamie Burton is a Newsweek Senior TV and Film Reporter (Interviews) based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more