Veteran director Spike Lee has spoken out on the Grammy’s decision to award Harry Styles with the highly- coveted Album of the Year over Beyoncé.

In an interview with The Guardian, the 65-year-old spoke of his “love and support” for the singer, pre-empting his support by admitting that he was “not the male president of the Bey Hive”- the singer’s long-standing fanbase’s name.

“Her album [Renaissance] is amazing,” he said. “I know she’s won multiple Grammys, but four times nominated for album of the year and she’s lost every time? No disrespect to those artists like Adele or Harry Styles who won – it’s not their fault – but that’s some straight-up bullshit.”

On the same subject, Lee pointed out the “history of great black artists” who are often nominated for prestigious awards but fail to win. Lee himself was no exception, having been nominated for the first time in 2019 for both Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars and the Golden Globes for the film BlacKkKlansman, but failing to take home either of the awards.

“We all know their work is great, because art speaks for itself,” he said. “But then it always comes down to this tricky territory of validation. Do black artists say ‘F**k it’, or seek white validation and chase awards?”

Although failing to grasp the Album of the Year, Beyoncé did take home several awards from the night, which include Best Dance/Electronic Recording (for ‘Break My Soul’), Best Dance/Electronic Music Album (for Renaissance), Best Traditional R&B Performance (for ‘Plastic Off The Sofa’) and Best R&B Song (for ‘Cuff It’).

This brings the 41-year-old’s total Grammy wins to 32, earning her the title of the most-awarded artist in Recording Academy history.