Yes, Etta had a duet performed in her honor, and Don got a special mention, but together they got less than a tenth of the attention given to Whitney Houston, who was in the montage in addition to having a significant segment of the show dedicated to her. For as little effort and time it would have taken to include two more photos in the montage, I can’t imagine why someone decided to omit Etta and Don. It comes across as a slight. Intentional slight or not, it strikes me as asinine.
It was weird, but evidently their view is that the montage is mostly for people who aren’t discussed during the show. Having a duet for Etta James and saying that that was instead of a spot in the montage made sense. Making a very quick mention of Don Cornelius as part of a segue to somebody else didn’t work as well.
I think the academy should be ashamed of themselves for this oversight! Etta James was a legend! Yes granted the news of Whitney was recent but did she deserve as much tribute as she was given ALL night long?? I think not! I think we can all agree that Whitney likely died at her own hand. Its sad but don’t make her out to be a Saint. What kind of message are we sending to the children who watched the Grammys? “Yes, Whitney was a crackhead and died way to young but we will allow a tribute to her overtake the entire show instead of paying more attention to a woman that was always a class act and lived to a ripe old age because she didnt abuse her body!” Yeah that’s a great message to send.
If you’re worried about sending a message to kids, irishangel, I’d focus on the hyping of Chris Brown. I don’t remember anybody saying Whitney Houston was a saint- just that she was very talented and died very suddenly at a fairly young age. The tributes probably would’ve been integrated into the show in a different way if she hadn’t died the day before.
As far as “dying by her own hand”… at this point it sounds like an accident. An accident likely caused by carelessness, but that doesn’t make it less sad for people who knew her or liked her music. These outpourings of grief over celebrities can be annoying, but there’s not much sense in getting into a contest over who deserves this kind of treatment more.
irishangel, Etta James was a massive heroin addict throughout the 60s and 70s. Musical legend for sure but I wouldn’t want her to be my kids’ role model either. And I totally agree with Marley23 - the Chris Brown thing is way more disturbing to me.
Don Kirshner died Jan 17 and he was overlooked too. A influential rock producer and promoter of the 60’s and 70’s. A lot of big stars owed their careers to this guy.