Halestorm's Lzzy Hale criticises Grammy Awards for Vinnie Paul snub
He was omitted from the In Memoriam segment
Halestorm singer Lzzy Hale has criticised the Grammy Awards after Vinnie Paul was omitted from the In Memoriam segment at Sunday night’s ceremony.
The Pantera, Damageplan and Hellyeah drummer, who passed away last June, didn’t feature in the Recording Academy’s video honouring artists and industry professionals the music community lost in 2018–2019 – an omission that was met with a fierce backlash online.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Lzzy Hale said Vinnie Paul’s snub proves that rock music “is still not given the respect it deserves.”
Explaining she was “disappointed and disheartened” that Paul - together with All That Remains guitarist Oli Herbert and Kyle Pavone of We Came As Romans - were not acknowledged, Hale conceded that it was a difficult job for the Recording Academy to whittle down a list of hundreds of deceased people to feature.
However, she added: “That is not an excuse for not including my friend Vinnie Paul of Pantera/ Hell Yeah, who has in fact...been nominated for 4 Grammy awards.”
Explaining she wants to be a beacon for rock music, Hale concluded her post by writing: “I will continue to be an ambassador for Rock and to fight for the respect that it deserves.”
Halestorm were nominated in the Best Rock Performance category for ‘Uncomfortable’ but lost out to Chris Cornell’s posthumously released song ‘When Bad Does Good’.
Lzzy Hale’s full Instagram post reads:
It was a whirlwind of a Grammy Week. It was so wonderful to be nominated, and I’m honored to have lost that Grammy to one of my influences, Chris Cornell. His children got up on stage and filled my heart with such love as they paid tribute to their father.
But I am disappointed and disheartened that Vinnie Paul of Pantera/ Hell Yeah,All That Remains guitarist Oli Herbert and Kyle Pavone of We Came As Romans were not acknowledged in the Annual Memoriam list this year.
There's a committee at The Recording Academy and, in December, they put together a list that goes into the hundreds, 300 to 400 people. They go through that list and this committee votes. And from that, they cut it down to a reasonable number for television. I get it. But that is not an excuse for not including my friend Vinnie Paul of Pantera/ Hell Yeah, who has in fact...been nominated for 4 Grammy awards.
I am very much aware that our genre is still not given the respect that it deserves.
This is why I’m involved. That’s why I was there, in my leather jacket and horns raised, representing my genre Presenting Awards at the Pre Televised ceremony.
That is why I was present at the televised show, sitting next to the cool kids.
Like anything in this world, if you want change, you must take action.
If I threw in the towel the first or hundredth time someone didn’t take me seriously or told me I couldn’t make it cuz I was a girl... then all the hard work and passion I bear for my love of music would be wasted.
So, with the same passion, I will not waste my time in the light.
I will continue to be an ambassador for Rock and to fight for the respect that it deserves.
-Lzzy Hale