Tina Knowles Commends Grammys for Awarding Black Artists During ‘Racist Times’ Following Beyoncé’s Win

Following the 2025 Grammy Awards, Tina took to Instagram to commend the Recording Academy for honoring Black artists following major wins from her daughter, Beyoncé Knowles, Kendrick Lamar, Doechii and more.

Tina, who admitted she sat out the show in previous years, gave credit where credit was due after she says the recording academy did the “right thing” in the most “racist times” by honoring a wide array of Black talent during Sunday night’s show.

“In years past, not that anybody cared I decided to not attend the Grammys. Not just because of my daughter, but because I felt like there was not equal respect or fair treatment for black artist. that they could perform there, use the incredible talent, and make the Grammys have great ratings, or they could put the camera in their faces when they lost as entertainment. Give them a consolatory award to appease them. But I have to commend the Academy that in the most racist times with all the pressure being put on everyone to do away with or not celebrate excellence or the exceptional accomplishments of Black people they stepped up and did the right thing,” Tina wrote.

“It took a lot of courage and integrity to do that,” she added.

Tina also applauded Recording Academy CEO Harvey Jay Mason Jr. for addressing the changes the Grammys have made after facing criticism over the years for the lack of diversity amongst its nominees and voting body.

“I was moved by the speech of the head of the Academy Mr. Harvey Mason and his candidness about the desire to change. So thank you, Grammys for being bold for being brave and for doing the right thing,” she continued. “❤️❤️❤️ that there is a saying that God comes not always on our time but at the right time. Grammys this happened at the right time!!!!”

In addition to taking home the trophy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for her song “II Most Wanted,” with Miley Cyrus, Bey walked away with a Grammy for Best Country Album for Cowboy Carter and scored the Album of the Year award for her first country effort after multiple nominations, and close calls, in the category.

But not everyone was excited about Bey’s country success.

Big & Rich’s John Rich took to social media as the 2025 Grammy Awards were airing to blast the show for giving the Best Country Album to Beyoncé over Lainey Wilson.

“Beyoncé wins ‘Best Country Album’ at The Grammys🤣🤣Way to go🤣🤣,” he began, before a fan responded, “Of course, the Grammys had to push their agenda instead of actually honoring real country artists. Total joke!”

To that, Rich replied, “🤡show”

When someone asked him how voting works, with the fan saying “There’s NO WAY her album was better than Lainey Wilson’s Whirlwind, I don’t get it,” Rich then claimed “Record labels making deals on the votes.”

He followed that up with more bold claims, saying, “Folks are asking me ‘how do music award shows work?’ Labels/publishers all have blocks of votes. They make deals with each other ‘you vote for mine, we’ll vote for yours’ type thing. It has ZERO to do with who made the best music, thus, Beyonce with ‘Country album of the year.’ Nice, right?”

“The same thing is true with the CMA’s, ACM’s, Billboard, etc…all work exactly the same. Last night, the Grammy’s outed themselves in a big way,” he added — though it should be noted Bey was completely snubbed by the CMAs.

His final tweet on the subject read, “.@laineywilson > @Beyonce” — a sentiment shared by many on Wilson’s Instagram comments as well, though she hasn’t said anything about her loss. Both Wilson and Musgraves were seen standing and clapping for Knowles as she walked to the stage.

“I think sometimes I think genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists,” Beyoncé, meanwhile, said during her acceptance speech last night. “I just want to encourage people to do what they’re passionate about. To stay persistent.”