AMAs 2019: What Did Halsey Actually Say When She Was Bleeped

During the American Music Awards on Sunday night, Halsey won the trophy for Favorite Song – Pop/Rock for her hit single “Without Me,” using her acceptance speech to seemingly shade award shows in general.

“I grew up watching shows like this,” she told the crowd. “And I would sit at home wide-eyed and watch artists in these beautiful gowns and handsome suits, like, stroll up the stairs to the stage and they would hold up these awards and usually gold-plated, shiny and weighted, these, like, metaphors, right? These trophies that were supposed to be some kind of validation for the soul-crushing and heartache-inducing work that they put into writing a song and bringing it to life.”

“And to be honest with you, I really believed that fairy tale. I believed these awards. When I was a kid, I used to believe that this award was the ultimate validation and that I’d come up here and laugh and cry and my fans at home would rejoice because we accomplished this thing together,” Halsey continued. “But the truth is that I am older now and I’m also an artist and apparently I’m doing okay. But most of these awards really aren’t what they seem at all. But that’s okay because I’m up here right now and I’m so thankful to the AMAs because they’re the world’s largest FAN voted awards show.”

At the end of her speech, Halsey was bleeped out when she told the audience, “And I’m thankful to the fans because they’re the people who really give a s— about music.”

Halsey performed twice during the AMAs, first singing her own hit “Graveyard” and later joining Taylor Swift and Camila Cabello for Swift’s “Shake It Off.” Many fans assumed that the singer used her acceptance speech to address the fact that she was snubbed from this year’s Grammy Awards nominations, which were announced last week and are voted on by the Recording Academy. The Grammy trophies are also notably gold, unlike the AMA trophies, which are clear.

She also tweeted about her Grammys snub, asking her fans to “not waste your anger or frustration.”

“i see a lot of you are upset. of course im sad too. none of it matters,” she continued. “literally none of it. you’re here. im here. + everything is gonna stay exactly the same and without me is still a super tight, record breaking song.”

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