Recording Academy President Tells Women 'Step Up' as #GrammysSoMale Backlash Begins

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Sunday's Grammys didn't do much to award women in the #TimesUp era, and Recording Academy President Neil Portnow seems to have only made the situation worse by telling women to "step up" their efforts to get noticed in the music industry.

"I think it has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls -- who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level -- to step up, because I think they would be welcome," Portnow said backstage during the show.

The statement seems to suggest he thinks there aren't women lining up to work in the music industry. According to a new study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, a total of 90.7 percent of Grammy nominees between the years of 2013 and 2018 were male. The study also found that women nominees for Producer of the Year have been missing from the roster since 2013.

In the broader spectrum, the study found that across 600 of the most popular songs from 2012 to 2017, 22.4 percent of the performers were female, and as for the women behind-the-scenes in the music industry, there is a gender ratio of 49 males to every female.

"I don't have personal experience with the kinds of brick walls that [women] face," Portnow said. "But I think it's really a combination of us in the industry making a welcome mat very obvious: creating mentorships, creating opportunities, not only for women, but for all people. And moving forward, creating that next generation of artists who feel like they can do anything and say anything."

Twitter hashtag "#GrammysSoMale" popped up after only two women were award during the three-and-a-half-hour CBS telecast from Madison Square Garden in New York City. One of those women was Alessia Cara, who took home the trophy for Best New Artist. The second was Rihanna for her feature on Kendrick Lamar's "LOYALTY," which won Best Rap/Sung Performance.

There were, however other women awarded off camera, including Shakira and Reba McEntire. In total, TooFab counted 13 female winners out of the 84 categories, and that includes women in groups.

And to make matters worse, Twitter freaked out once Ed Sheeran won the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance because he was the only male nominee in the category.

The disappointment in lack of female winners is no surprise, considering the awareness of gender inequality in all workplaces, thanks to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, which were recognized Sunday on the red carpet by Grammys guests carrying or wearing white roses.

Portnow then tried to defend his decision for not inviting Lorde, a two-time Grammy winner whose album was up for Album of the Year, to perform solo like the rest of the men in her category.

"We have a wealth of riches every year, and it's hard to have a balanced show and have everybody involved," he said. "We can't have a performance from every nominee -- we have over 80 categories -- so we have to realize that we have to create something that has balance."

See a sample of the backlash below:

Worst, Wildest and Most WTF Looks at the 2018 Grammy Awards freaky fashion

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