J Balvin causes controversy after receiving award for 'Afro-Latino Artist of the Year'

During the last week, the winners of the “African Entertainment Awards USA” award were revealed, whose main objective is to reward African personalities or personalities of African descent, who made a difference in the music scene in the current year. Therefore, almost automatically, it is understood that the award is aimed at black artists, however, Colombian J Balvin was the winner of the “Afro-Latino Artist of the Year” category.

With the announcement of the receipt of the category, internet users expressed anger and strangeness, due to the artist's lack of connection with black citizens. “J Balvin, a white Latino, should not have accepted this award over real Afro-Latino artists,” said one of them. “J Balvin is NOT an AFRO Latino. He’s a white Colombian…period,” commented another.

Regarding the controversy involving his name, the artist published on his Instagram story: “I’m not Afro Latin, but thank you for giving me a place in contributing to Afrobeat music and its movement.”

THE AEAUSA It describes itself as follows on its website: “We use entertainment as a platform to showcase an Africa that is united, self-reliant and willing, and capable of evoking the social change that matters most in communities of Africans around the world.”

In addition to Balvin, Brazilian IZA, Japanese, Dubosky, Italian Somali, David L, Nacho, Sami Boy, Bad Bunny and The Ganez competed in the category.

The awards press office issued a statement on the matter, deciding that, after all, the category should just be “Latin Artist of the Year”. “After listening to our audience's concerns, we decided to maintain the purpose of the award, but changed the name to Best Latin Artist of the year.

The Best Latin Artist category is for any artist based in Latin America who is contributing to African culture, especially the Afro-beats sound globally. It is not based on race, but more importantly, on pushing African culture on the world stage. This is the first year we have introduced this category to include our Latino brothers and sisters who have embraced Afrobeat music on their platforms. The winner of this category demonstrated this and is deserving of this award based on fan votes.

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Please remember that nominees in this category had no say in their nomination or influence on the awards program. Instead of expressing dissatisfaction, let's encourage these artists to continue bridging the gap between Africa and Latin America. We request your continued support, assistance and guidance in the 2022 nomination process. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to an open dialogue. We apologize to anyone who was offended by this category,” says the official position of AEAUSA.

Featured photo: J Balvin. Reproduction/Twitter