Grammys executives are standing by their decision to honor the late Natalie Cole in a short video tribute known as the "In Memoriam."
After the awards show aired, Cole's family and supporters vented their frustration over the lack of appreciation shown to the nine-time Grammy winner, arguing that Cole deserved the same attention shown to David Bowie, Maurice White, B.B. King, Lionel Richie and Glenn Frey, who were all celebrated with musical tributes during the show
"Here is a woman who has been in the business for four decades, had 21 Grammy nominations and won nine Grammys. She deserves more than a minute-and-a-half tribute," Cole's son, Robert Adam Yancy, told Entertainment Tonight. "It was shameless the way they minimized her legacy. We will find solace in her legacy as well as her endless fans around the world."
The late "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" singer, who passed on New Year's Eve due to complications from ongoing health issues, was only honored during the "In Memoriam" segment of the show with a nearly 10-second film clip from a minute-and-a-half long video tribute to other fallen stars.
Cole's sisters also called the late songstress' tribute "forgettable" and "disrespectful."
Show producer Ken Ehrlich told Billboard that he believed Cole's tribute was "appropriate" as well as "touching and emotional." In fact, Ehrlich said he had been exchanging emails with Timolin Cole, one of Cole's sisters, about how producers had planned to honor the late singer and was under the impression that Cole's family was "happy" with their plans and approved the clip being played in memoriam.
"What I told her is that we had talked about having an artist do something for Natalie; at one point I was playing around with 'Miss You Like Crazy,' because I love that song," Ehrlich recalled. "But when I looked again at the Grammy show we did where she won for 'Unforgettable,' and I saw the last 45 seconds of that number, where her father (Nat King Cole, on the big screen) throws her a kiss, she throws him a kiss, and then she turns to the audience and throws everybody a kiss-that just was so touching and so emotional to me that that felt like it had to be the end of the whole 'In Memoriam' segment. I hadn't looked at that clip in several years, but when I saw it again, I knew it was right."
David Wild, who's co-written the Grammy telecast since 2001, also commented on the Cole controversy, confessing that both he and Ehrlich adored Cole greatly and even had plans for her to present at Grammys before her passing.
"Natalie Cole was one where I talked to Ken 10 seconds after we both found out that she passed, and he loved her," Wild also told Billboard. "That clip really impacted him [Ehrlich], and he thought, he's not gonna do better at Natalie than Natalie. When he found that clip and showed it to me, he was sort of in tears, because it meant so much to him."
