Grammys president blames WOMEN For Not "Stepping up" after Male Artist Sweep the Awards

#GrammysSoMale?



That's the hashtag brewing after Sunday's Grammy Awards, where only one of the nine main prizes presented during the telecast was won by a woman.



That would be 21-year-old Alessia Cara, who took home best new artist, and spent her time on the red carpet and backstage speaking out in support of the Time's Up movement, which was founded by Hollywood celebrities and executives earlier this month to combat sexual harassment and assault.




Dozens of artists — Cara included — came to the Grammys wearing white roses in solidarity with Time's Up and sexual misconduct victims. But that spirit of female empowerment wasn't reflected in this year's winners, nor in remarks made by Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, who suggested that if women wish to collect more golden gramophones moving forward, they need to double down on their efforts.



"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 told journalists backstage after the show.



"I don't have personal experience with the kinds of brick walls that (women) face," Portnow continued. "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."