The red hot chilli pipers

The 65th annual Grammy Awards, hosted at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday night, featured some must-see, jaw-dropping moments.

Some of these epic moments are being hailed as among the biggest award show fails, while others were such a hit that they’ll be worthy of discussion for quite some time.

Beyonce Came Out Late

One of the biggest bombs was Beyonce’s inability to show up on time. In spite of all the pre-award-show hype that suggested she was going to win big, Beyonce couldn’t pull herself together. She wasn’t in the building when she won the award for the Best R&B Song for “Cuff It,” and Trevor Noah put her on blast for being stuck in traffic. Nile Rodgers accepted on her behalf.

Madonna Was A Mess

Madonna took the small stage at the Grammys to introduce Sam Smith and Kim Petras, and she probably just shouldn’t have. Her face looked puffy and distorted, and at age 64, it was just plain weird to see her standing there while holding a whip. Her jokes flatlined and she had to ask the crowd to cheer during her monologue, yet still couldn’t get them engaged.

Aaron Carter’s Death Was Overlooked

In a heartfelt tribute to recent artists that have recently passed away, Aaron Carter fans noticed he was completely overlooked. He died in November, so it hasn’t been long enough for the academy to forget. His fans are loudly reminding them and have been vocal about their disappointment.

Hip Hop Legends United

The biggest names in Hip Hop celebrated the 50th anniversary of the music genre by uniting generations of artists that came together to grace the stage. Rakim, Queen Latifah to Busta Rhymes and Public Enemy were joined by Lil Baby, Melle Mel and GloRilla. The performance also included Questlove, Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Salt n Pepa, Scarface, Ice-T, Queen Latifah, Method Man of the Wu Tang Clan, Big Boi, Missy Elliot, Nelly, Lil Baby, Swizz Beatz & The Lox, Lil Uzi Vert, DJ Jazzy Jeff and many more. Eminem continued his boycott of the Grammys and was notably missing.

The Last Supper Was Created In The Most Blasphemous Way

DJ Khalid brought Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, John Legend, Friday and JAY-Z to the stage for his performance of “God Did,” and he opted to set the stage to appear like a glorified version of Leonardo da Vinci’s paining of The Last Supper. Vines of fruit and lush greens cascaded across an oversized table while the Hip Hop moguls took their seats at the table and gave credit to their Creator. This blasphemous version of the sacred Christian reference happened to also include rappers singing at the table, and Jay-Z making a gun motion with his hand.

Shania Twain’s Hair Was A Red Hot Disaster

Shania Twain is making a comeback and she definitely wanted to be noticed. She appeared to the Grammys with fire-red hair that was too bold, too bright, and far too mismatched to be pulled off successfully. She was barely recognizable in her red hot disaster, but that might be a good thing. (RELATED: Megan Fox Stirs Up Fan Curiosity After Arriving To Grammys With Pink Cast And Concussion)

Trevor Noah Killed The Show

Who asked this guy to host, and why? The jokes were dry and they didn’t stick. He tried to be overly friendly as he joked with Harry Styles and Taylor Swift, but all it did was give off creepy vibes . The night ran too long, and that’s all his fault. He didn’t need to chat it out so much – nobody was listening to him anyways.

The Fan Segment Was A Bore

We’re not sure why, but a large group of fans was featured at this year’s Grammys and were given far too much air time. They chatted at a round table while the cameras rolled and weighed in on who they thought should/would each award. It was a snooze-fest to watch them engage with one another. Fans tuned in to see celebrities, not randoms.

Quavo Honored Takeoff In An Emotional Tribute

Quavo held up the late Takeoff’s chains and sang while they dangled from his hands, as he paid tribute to his fallen friend at the Grammys. The Migos rapper took the stage with the Maverick City Music choir as he belted out the lyrics to his song “Without You.” The choir emphasized his lyric and joined in to provide vocals for the line, “I wish I had a time machine, just so you can take a ride with me,” they sang in perfectly harmonized voices.

The Transgender Community Got A Historic Win

Kim Petras made history Sunday when she became the first openly transgender pop artist to win a Grammy. She took home the hardware and accepted the award alongside Sam Smith for their collaborative hit, “Unholy.” “I just want to thank all the incredible transgender legends performing who kicked these doors open for me so I could be here tonight,” she said at the podium.

Conservative Twitter mouthpieces spent last night tightening their arthritis braces and clacking away at their phone screens for hours, following Sam Smith’s three-minute performance at the Grammys. Smith and fellow queer pop sensation Kim Petras joined forces on music’s biggest stage to perform their hit song “Unholy,” amidst waves of pyrotechnics and dancers clad in entirely red outfits with long, black wigs.

The number was a clear attempt to generate a little buzz by harkening back to a time when pop stars were actually inflammatory, not just playing dress-up with different aesthetics. Madonna—one such legitimately provocative artist—said as much when she introduced the performance: “Are you ready for a little controversy?”

Apparently, some people were indeed ready for a Sam Smith squabble!

“Demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan,” conservative podcaster Liz Wheeler tweeted after the performance. “I could throw up.” Meanwhile, the performance itself was about as blasphemous as a case of the church giggles. It was all show, with no story or clear concept. In fact, the most offensive thing about Smith’s brief tenure on stage was something that most people seem to be overlooking: their god-awfully ugly hat .

After Petras performed her verse—the sole, marginally listenable part of “Unholy”—the telecast cameras cut back to Smith at center stage, now donning a red top hat with devil horns on it. It is perhaps one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen a pop star wear, and I was there when Kesha was still braiding feathers into her hair, so that’s saying something. Meanwhile, Twitter was buzzing before the ceremony even began, with users calling the (cute!) jumpsuit Harry Styles wore on the red carpet a “ clown costume .” And to that I say, I see your Ringling Brothers circus jumpsuit and raise you Sam Smith looking like a Super Mario villain .

It’s not that I don’t understand the purpose of the hat within the performance’s flimsy context. It’s just that it’s so damn hideous that it doesn’t matter. The hat interferes with Smith’s undeniable vocal talent! When I see that hat come out, everything else around it goes black. I can only make out the blurry silhouette of a ridiculous top hat with devil horns.

Not one person has ever looked good in a top hat, and certainly not one worn smack-diddly-doo atop their noggin. Even Marlene Dietrich had the good sense to tilt that shit 45 degrees! I’m unsure as to why Sam Smith thinks that adding some corny, Halloweeny iconography to their look is going to be the thing that really ties it all together.

If this was the first time we had seen this hat, I could forgive the faux pas. Hell, I could even let them off with a warning if it were the second . But this is the third time I’ve had to bear witness to a version of this millinery monstrosity. And my patience is wearing thin! This ghastly chapeau is just the latest entry into Sam Smith’s canon of public-facing style that’s beginning to verge on the Billy Porter-ian . Smith and Porter both seem to enjoy the sensation of raiding a high school drama department’s costume collection and throwing on whatever they can find for an appearance. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it does not .

I feel I should note here that, when it comes to Smith’s personal style, I actually enjoy most of their outfit choices. Their Instagram account is awash in things that I would absolutely wear myself, and I have so much respect for their bravery when it comes to dressing. It’s not easy, by any means, to be a queer person and step out in whatever you want.

And I’ll even give some credence to the abhorrent top hat for being a non-gendered accessory. It’s not the typically hetero-male backward cap, and it doesn’t have the soft-yet-fluid femininity of something like a beret. Hats are hats; they should be free of a rigid and outdated perception of gender. But unfortunately, that’s not necessarily how it works. And the result that Smith has given us, while seemingly trying to find a middle ground, is the worst of both worlds.

Smith’s Grammy outfit was the latest topic in the weeks of debate over their fashion choices. I have no interest in contributing to the reductive and useless diatribe that has been permeating the cultural conversation when it comes to Smith’s style. Their most recent music video, for their new song “ I’m Not Here to Make Friends ,” has sparked debate over Smith’s choice to wear a corset that leaves their chest uncovered. Anyone looking to police someone else’s body won’t find an ally here. If you’re concerned about that, you’ve got much more pressing issues to address than the devil-horned top hat.

However, I will do all I can to fight against this hellish helmet. If I never see the horned top hat again, it will still be too soon. If I had to guess, I’d say that the conceit behind Smith and Petras’ Grammy performance was to allude to conservative media’s damning of their respective queer identities as demonic—“unholy,” if you will. If that’s the case, the actual execution was severely lacking in the proper visual and aesthetic cohesion to pull that off. But hey, I guess that in the end, it still did the job.

Smith managed to piss people off with even the most lacking of sartorial taste. Leave it to the right-wing “spokespeople” and their legions of followers who spent $8 on Twitter Blue verified checkmarks to be baited by Party City couture.

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