Swift stirs controversy after alleged Dion snub

LOS ANGELES

Ending the 2024 Grammys with a tender moment between Taylor Swift and Celine Dion should’ve been an easy win. But viewers were divided on the night’s final moment, CNN has reported.

When surprise presenter Dion announced Swift as the winner of Album of the Year, the “Karma” singer excitedly dashed onto the stage with several of her collaborators, including producer Jack Antonoff and featured artist Lana Del Rey. When the Canadian singer handed her the award, though, Swift took it without looking at Dion, instead exchanging looks of delight and disbelief with her team.

Some viewers saw Swift not acknowledging Dion as she took the award as a disrespectful and purposeful snub.

Canadian journalist Beverly Smith accused Swift of “taking the trophy from Celine Dion as if she was the hat-check girl, and not seeming to realize how very amazing it was that Celine was standing there at all.”

Sunday night was a rare public appearance for Dion, who first revealed in late 2022 that stiff person syndrome, a neurological disorder that can cause spasms and muscle rigidity, was impacting “every aspect” of her life, “sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to.”

Swifties swooped in post-Grammys to defend their idol, arguing that Swift was merely overwhelmed in her history-making moment as the first artist to win four Album of the Year awards and chose to share it with the producers and performers who helped make it happen. Swift’s fans also, helpfully, brought receipts and photos of Swift and Dion hugging at the Grammys over the years, including Sunday night backstage.

Swift, who’s known for excitedly cheering on artists and dancing in the aisle at awards shows, had joined her fellow Grammy attendees Sunday in greeting Dion with a standing ovation. True to form, she also lip synced along to Dion’s cover of “The Power of Love.”

While viewers will likely continue speculating about Swift’s reasons for the supposed snub, we won’t know for sure until either diva makes a public comment. But Dion ended the night with a unifying message for her fellow artists, beseeching them to “never take for granted the tremendous love and joy that music brings to our lives and to people all around the world.”