Last night’s Grammy Awards, held for the first time in Las Vegas, was the night for recording artists to celebrate their work. But the incident from last week’s Oscars was front and center — and the butt of several onstage jokes.
It didn’t take long for host Trevor Noah to address the slap heard around the world.
“We’re going to be keeping people’s names out of our mouths,” the comedian joked.
“The Oscars were only last week, so it was one of those things where everyone was wondering when was someone going to address it, and it’s good that he got it out right out of the gate,” Billboard reporter Kristin Robinson said.
The controversy surfaced again when Oscar winner Questlove took the stage. His win at the Oscars for Best Documentary came moments after Chris Rock was slapped.
“I’m going to present this award, and I trust you that people will stay 500 feet away from me,” Questlove said.
After being banned from performing because of toxic social media postings targeting his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her new boyfriend Pete Davidson, Kayne West was a no-show at the Grammys.
“I think that he seems to be taking time for him, his mental health and to kind of work on his family life,” Robinson said.
Olivia Rodrigo won three Grammys, including Best New Artist. She had her arms full and dropped one of the awards backstage, breaking it in half.
Jon Batiste took home five Grammys after being nominated for 11. He won the coveted Album of the Year for “We Are.”
And Silk Sonic, the duo of Bruno Mars and Anderson Pak, snagged four statues, and had everyone smiling with their antics.
There were knockout performances from Brandi Carlile, Lenny Kravitz and H.E.R.
The biggest rave of the night came during a stirring in memoriam tribute to those in the music industry who passed away in recent months. Singers Ben Platt, Rachel Zegler, Cynthia Erivo and Leslie Odom Jr. performed songs of the late Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim.