Why did almost every Grammy winner take their mask off at their table?
The Grammy is the new PPE.
Of all the surreal and dissonant oddities of a show held during a pantera, one aspect of the 63rd Grammys bizarrely stood out the most: the masks.
Their presence weighed upon the ceremony not only because of the obvious reminder of the times. Seeing musicians with their faces (and for many, their primary instrument, their voice) obscured underscored the especially large toll lockdown measures had on music. That said, arguably most of the present attendees were, financially at least, stable without live music revenue.
So, with those undertones and threat of variants lingering in the traffic-filled air of Los Angeles, it surprised me to see nearly every artist take off their mask the moment they won an award.
Like choreography, an artist heard their name, ripped their mask off, and placed it on the table before taking the stage. They embraced those seated around them (who kept their masks on) and blew kisses to the crowd using hands that had seconds before embraced a presenter and a physical award. Upon winning Album of the Year, Taylor Swift removed her mask and said “Oh shit” on live TV; I also said “Oh shit” but for entirely different reasons.
To readdress some things – being unmasked within six-feet of others is still discouraged by the CDC, even for vaccinated folks. It also goes without saying that the distinction of the Recording Academy’s honors does not inoculate one against COVID, and yet.
What would Betty say?
No one I saw, sans Bad Bunny, could wait to get onstage before taking off their mask? I understand not wanting to get photographed with it on, but in a portishead year no one cares if your Getty photo-op includes a metallic-toned KN95 dangling from your wrist.
Celebrities already live in a world separate from regular folk but the way in which these people treated their PPE like props in a J’Adore commercial confounded me. Why wear the masks if they’re gonna take it off around other people? Do they think this way because you have already been vaccinated? Even if they were, Fauci still recommends keeping the mask on.
He keeps his on – why is he an outlier?
I’m not necessarily blaming anyone, but I can’t keep myself from wondering about this: why did these people even bother to wear masks??? It became hard to focus on the many milestones of the evening while watching famous folks blatantly disregard safeguards during an ongoing pandemic, one that hit LA particularly hard. A year of stress over leaving the house or touching a dirty surface left most of us in an anxious daze. Watching as our daily defense mechanisms literally got tossed aside in the name of Big Music begged the question, to quote one of the night’s performers – what was the reason?
Unfortunately, the answers probably aren’t any good either.