A few Grammy nominees with Minnesota connections won golden gramophones on Sunday night, but the biggest Minnesota winner of all was presenter Prince, according to the reception on Twitter.
Prince, decked out in orange like a glorious dreamsicle, was on hand to present the album of the year award, which many expected to go to either Beyonce or Sam Smith.
When the winner turned out to be Beck for his album “Morning Glory,” Prince’s side-eyed expression (which actually happened earlier in the segment) spoke volumes for how many in the audience felt. It became an instant meme on Twitter.
As if that wasn’t enough, before Beck could get in a word, Kanye West came running up on stage. He paused as if he was thinking about cutting off Beck, and then ran back to his seat.
At that point, everyone thought West was pulling a joke and poking fun of himself when he ran on stage to interrupt Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards back in 2009. It wasn’t. During an awards postshow on E!, West said “Beck needs to respect artistry. He should have given his award to Beyonce.”
He also said that if the Grammys “want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. I am here to fight for creativity. That’s why I didn’t say anything tonight, but you all knew what it meant when ‘Ye stepped on that stage.”
