On Sunday, Feb. 4, celebrities graced the Grammys the red carpet to celebrate musical royalty. Naturally, nominated musicians plus other key figures in the industry made an appearance. Even Kanye West, crashed the party.
Among them sat some of the biggest influencers in the creator economy, including Kai Cenat and Pokimane. However, as Pop Base reported on Pokimane’s arrival specifically, some netizens weren’t impressed.
“Isn’t she a streamer or smth?” one X user asked. Another queried: “Why are we inviting streamers to this event?” While a third added: “No idea why she’s there but she looks gorgeous as ever.”
In an X post responding to this backlash Pokimane wrote: “To anyone wondering why I’m there, they invited a buncha creators & I agree I SHOULDNT BE HERE lmao but i am honored to beeee nonetheless [sic].”
As the creator economy grows the “content creators at awards shows” discourse has come up again, again, and again. But the truth is, influencers and the platforms they’ve emerged from have just as much a right to be there as anyone else.
Influencers and influencer culture as a whole has become firmly embedded in pop culture. If influencers didn’t lip-sync, dance to, or otherwise amplify these artists’ songs on platforms like TikTok, would they be as successful as they ended up? Maybe, but probably not.
So, it’s time we stopped having this discourse every time there’s an awards show and accepted the fact that creators are going to be there, and that they earned their spot on that guest list just like everyone else.
