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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Arwa Mahdawi

Harry Styles thinks ‘people like him’ don’t get awards? That’s daft – but it’s not evil

Harry Styles with his Grammy awards for best pop vocal album and album of the year 2023
Harry Styles with his Grammy awards for best pop vocal album and album of the year. Photograph: Michael Buckner/Variety/Getty

Harry Edward Styles is a middle-class white man with a nice face and an enormous bank account. “People like him” are not usually considered an oppressed minority. And yet the 29-year-old pop star has been widely accused of claiming to be a member of an underclass during the Grammy awards on Sunday night. “This doesn’t happen to people like me very often,” Styles said as he scooped up best pop vocal album and album of the year. Cue confusion and uproar as people pointed out that white men win awards rather often. Meanwhile, a black woman hasn’t won album of the year since Lauryn Hill in 1999.

Brace yourself, because this article is about to go in one direction you may have thought I would never head. I am going to defend a rich man!

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