Jay-Z used his acceptance speech to call out the Grammys for their treatment of Beyonce.

"The most Grammys... never won album of the year."

This was the line from Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's Grammy Award acceptance speech that made the entire room fall silent. 

While accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact award, Jay-Z dragged the Grammy Awards by mentioning all the times the voting body behind the show didn't get it right. 

He talked about how Best Rap Performance was introduced as a category for the first time in 1989, yet wasn't televised like the other categories, resulting in Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff boycotting that year. 

He then went on to say how his wife Beyoncé is the most decorated Grammy Award winner of all time, yet has never won album of the year. 

In 2023, Beyoncé officially became the only artist in the world to win 32 Grammy Awards.  

Jay-Z calls out the #Grammys for never giving Beyoncé the Album of the Year trophy, despite her record-setting 32 wins. pic.twitter.com/htakmJGEKH

— Variety (@Variety) February 5, 2024

In his acceptance speech, he said: "I don't want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn't work. Think about that. The most Grammys... never won album of the year. That doesn't work." 

Jay-Z isn't the first person to point out that Beyoncé should've won Album of The Year in a Grammy's acceptance speech.

In 2017, Beyoncé's Lemonade album was nominated for the category, however, Adele won with her album 25. 

In her acceptance speech, Adele said: "I can't possibly accept this award, and I'm very humbled and I'm very grateful and gracious but the artist of my life is Beyoncé and this album for me- the Lemonade album was just so monumental and so well thought out. So beautiful and soul-baring and we all got to see another side to you and all of us artists here, we f*cking adore you.

"The way you make me and my friends feel," she continued. "The way you make my black friends feel is empowering and you make them stand up for themselves. I love you and I always have and I always will."

Adele and Jay-Z at the 2017 Grammy Awards

As Adele spoke, Jay-Z teared up and Beyoncé mouthed the words "I love you" back to Adele. 

In his speech this year Jay-Z said: "We just want you to get it right, we love you... we just want you to get it right. At least get it close to right." 

Along with his comments about Beyonce a section from Jay-Z's speech, where he acknowledges that people in the room feel "robbed" has also started to go viral. 

"Some of you are going to go home tonight and feel like you've been robbed," he said. "Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don't belong in a category." 

After receiving some gasps and a few boos he said: "When I get nervous I tell the truth." 

He then ended his speech with some words of encouragement for everyone in the room.

"We gotta keep showing up," he said. "Forget the Grammys for a second, just in life. Just in life you've gotta keep showing up until they give you all those accolades you feel you deserve. Until they call you chairman, until they call you a genius, until they call you the greatest of all time." 

In real-time, it was obvious by the silence in the room that Jay-Z's speech slamming the Grammy Awards made everyone uncomfortable. However, the majority of people on X (Twitter) have applauded Jay-Z for his courage in telling the truth. 

If Taylor Swift won 32 Grammys and none of them were for Album of the Year, I'm sure there would be a much larger uproar and the world wouldn't wait for two extremely famous artists to call it out in their acceptance speeches.

For more pop culture opinions by Emily Vernem you can listen to her on The Spill podcast Mondays-Wednesdays or follow her on Instagram @emilyvernem.

Feature Image: Channel 7