Harry Styles faces backlash for his Grammy speech after victory over Beyoncé

Harry Styles – who took home the award for Album of the Year at the 2023 Grammys after beating Beyoncé, Adele as well as Lizzo and Bad Bunny – has sparked reactions with his speech, saying: “This doesn’t happen to people like me very often and this is so, so nice.”

The former One Direction star made the comments after accepting the award for his album “Harry’s House” in Los Angeles on Sunday (5 February).

Some social media users quickly took issue with the fact that the British musician claimed such awards rarely go to “people like” him even though it’s unclear what Styles was referring to.

Some music fans expressed their anger by pointing out that white, cisgender males like him have dominated awards ceremonies for decades. Meanwhile, Beyoncé is still yet to win Album of the Year.

One fan tweeted: “We beg to differ, Harry. Mediocre white men get glamourised, rewarded and awarded over exceptionally talented, amazing Black women like @Beyonce all day, every day. Case in point is this AOTY win. #GRAMMYs.”

Another wrote: “Harry styles said ‘this doesn’t happen to people like me very often’ and I gotta be honest I can’t think of a type of people this happens for more.”

While some other criticised the artist and asked him to seek pardon as they penned: “Harry Styles needs to send Kendrick and Beyonce a 9,000 word apology text and get it tattooed all over his body.”