Canada’s Juno Awards Fetes Nickelback, Hip-Hop’s 50th, Jessie Reyez, the Weeknd (in Absentia)
15.03.2023 - 00:07
/ variety.com
Karen Bliss Canada’s Juno Awards broadcast didn’t need the Weeknd in the house for a little excitement at Edmonton’s Rogers Place Monday night (March 13). Albertans were already pumped with pride for the induction of their hometown rock stars, Nickelback, later in the show and a night-capping medley by the band, who hail from the tiny town of Hanna. But the 12,000 people in attendance got an unexpected eyeful when a topless protestor managed to get on the stage as Avril Lavigne was introducing top-selling Punjabi performer AP Dhillon. The camera operators did pull back to a wide shot for those watching at home, but there was no time to bleep when Lavigne let off a couple of F-bombs to get the woman off the stage.
Then it was back to the polished, planned, polite celebration of Canadian music, the 52nd annual, hosted for the second consecutive year by Canadian-born actor Simu Liu (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Barbie”), with the winners making sure to praise their fellow nominees. Even Nickelback’s acceptance speech, which did go off script a bit, was expletive-free, if you don’t count the word “badass”; the 50th anniversary of hip–hop segment, showing Canada’s contribution to the artform, featured a medley requiring no bleeped lyrics; and Jessie Reyez turned a “sh” to “shoot.” The majority of the awards had been given out at Juno Opening Night awards, a private gala dinner on March 11, at the Edmonton Convention Centre. Only seven honors were awarded last night — fan choice, album of the year, rap album/EP, breakthrough artist, contemporary R&B recording, plus MusiCounts Teacher of the Year and the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame — in between stellar performances from Nickelback, Alexisonfire, Banx & Ranx
The website celebfans.org is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.