Stop saying awards shows are rigged

Super Bowls, elections, and the Grammy Awards are not beset by innate fraud- and if you’re going to claim that they are, try to come up with some proof.

Good morning from Philadelphia, the City of Champions.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl win last night against the Kansas City Chiefs followed weeks of conspiracy theorizing about how the NFL’s refs are in the pocket of the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, and how no other team stood a chance in such a “rigged” environment. It’s all part of an even wider conspiracy theory claiming that “the NFL is scripted.”

But then… the Chiefs lost, even with some controversial calls not going their way.

And that’s really of a piece with our current moment, of way too many people claiming, without a shred of evidence, that major events are “rigged.” Super Bowls. Elections. Awards shows. Everything’s “rigged.”

But more than anything else lately, I’ve been hearing this about the recent Grammy Awards. I can’t open TikTok or any other social media app without being exposed to an elaborate conspiracy theory about how the awards were “rigged,” or that Beyonce or her husband Jay-Z “bought” the Album of the Year award.

Even the mainstream media, using the well-established doctrine that “something is a story because people on X say it is,” are going with headlines like “Grammys fans fume awards show is rigged as Beyoncé's stunned look 'says it all' following win” and “Social Media Calls Beyoncé 'Fake' For 'Acting Surprised' Over Grammys 'Best Country Album' Award: 'Wonder How Much Money Jay-Z Paid For Her To Win.’”

If there were an actual bribery or payola conspiracy that determined the outcome of the Grammy Awards, and it turned out The Recording Academy was openly corrupt… that would be a pretty big scandal and a major story.

The problem is… there’s not a shred of evidence — literally, not one iota — that anything like that happened. And no, “an album I don’t like won Album of the Year” “Beyonce’s facial expression is suspicious,” and “Billie Eilish’s album was way better” do not meet any standard of “evidence.”