Lenny Kravitz Clears The Air On Black Music Awards Exclusion Comments

Rock and roll icon Lenny Kravitz is clearing the air surrounding comments he made about what he feels has been an exclusion from Black music award shows. The 59-year-old took to Twitter to clarify that his critique was not directed towards the “Black community.”

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— Lenny Kravitz (@LennyKravitz) December 4, 2023

“It is important to me to set the record straight on recent media reports based on an interview I did,” he wrote. “My black musical heritage means a lot to me, and I owe my success to my supporters who have taken this journey with me over the span of my career. The comment I made was not about ‘black media’ or the ‘black community.’ I was specifically referring to black award shows in particular.”

Kravitz, who has been in the public eye for the past three decades, has never been honored by BET or any other celebrations of Black entertainment; however, he clarified that his comments were not to shame the work the network had done to provide a home to himself and others. “BET and countless others have paved the way for this type of recognition,” Kravitz wrote. “I hope that by sharing my concern a spotlight will be shone on this issue.”

Though the rocker and longtime sex symbol made it clear that he was not critiquing Black media’s recognition or acceptance of himself; he did however, acknowledge that artists outside of “traditional” Black music genres are often viewed as breaks from the norm rather than a continuation of history.

“My comment was meant to express a concern about ensuring that black artists are being recognized for their work in what is now being called ‘non-traditional’ black music, which it is not,” he said. “Rock and roll is the music we were instrumental in creating and is a part of our history. We must retain our heritage and celebrate that together.”