Smokey Robinson Doubles Down on Defense of Jennifer Lopez Motown Grammys Tribute

Smokey Robinson is doubling down on his support of Jennifer Lopez and her tribute to Motown music at the 2019 Grammy Awards.

The Motown legend, 78, took to Instagram to share this thoughts of those who argued that Lopez should not have been chosen to perform in the tribute.

“Attention, all those of you who protested a wonderful, super talented, world renowned, super star like Jennifer Lopez, showing her love and support for Motown music, here’s some food for thought,” he began his lengthy post.

“On the very first day of Motown Berry Gordy told the five of us who were present, ‘I’m gonna start my own record company and we’re gonna make music for everybody and always be sure to make quality music that the world can enjoy.’ And through the Grace of God and hard work and determination, we accomplished that,” Robinson continued. “Kids of all races, worldwide, grew up loving the music of Motown, imitating our acts. Pretending to be Diana Ross, the Temptations, Michael Jackson and so on. Parents were and still are turning their kids on to the music of Motown.”

“So now if you’re gonna try to diminish the scope of Motown and narrow it down to just music for Black people and you call yourself defending the image of Motown. Well you’re trying to set us back a hundred years,” he said. “If you call yourself loving Motown, be happy that we reached so many people and broke down so many racial barriers and that an artist like Jennifer, even after hearing all your negative comments, still loved Motown enough to do the tribute anyway. Now that’s love and respect.”

“And I guess since you feel that way about an artist of another ethnicity doing a tribute to Motown, you must have hated Tina Marie, Rare Earth and some of our other white artists,” he said. “Stop hating. Motown united people not divided them. So don’t call yourself loving Motown if you’re a hater and spreading the same bigotry that you so strongly oppose coming at you from others. J Lo was great and we at Motown love her.”

“The beauty of Motown is that we’re a family made up of Black, White, Hispanic, and Asian women and men,” Robinson concluded. “We had a very diverse employee roster. So I hope knowing these few facts helps you get your perspective together and think about the hate you’re spreading.”

In the caption of the post, he wrote, “God bless you,” and signed the post as from him, adding the hashtag #MotownDidItFirst.

He then shared a photo with Lopez on stage and captioned it, “Thank You, MY GIRL @JLo.”

Previously, he had said that he thinks “anyone who is upset is stupid.”

His passionate post came after many argued that black or more soulful performers should have been chosen to honor the genre made famous by artists like Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Gladys Knight & the Pips and The Temptations.

Lopez also argued that she was worthy of leading the performance, telling Entertainment Tonight that “you can’t tell people what to love.”

“The thing about music is that it inspires all,” she said. “Any type of music can inspire any type of artist. You can’t tell people what to love. You can’t tell people what they can and can’t do, what they should sing or not sing. You gotta do what’s in your heart.”

She added that Gordy, as well as the Grammys producers, were “thrilled” with her involvement. “They know how much I have been influenced by that music and so it was a natural fit for them,” she said.

“But for some people, [it wasn’t], and that’s OK. I’m just very humbled and honored to be able to have sung those songs.”