Jay-Z has been accused of pitting Beyonce against Taylor Swift after he called out the Grammys for never awarding his wife Album Of The Year, moments before Swift broke records by winning the accolade for the fourth time. 

In a move that viewers claimed was reminiscent of Kanye West‘s infamous 2009 MTV VMAs speech, Jay-Z launched into an impassioned rant as he pointed out the ludicrousness that Beyonce is the Grammy‘s most-awarded artist with 32 honours, but none for the top prize.

The Brooklyn-born rapper made his speech at Sunday night’s Grammys when he was honoured with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award for his contribution to the music industry.

With his 12-year-old daughter Blue Ivy standing on stage beside him, and Beyonce looking on from their table in the audience, dressed in just-off-the-catwalk Louis Vuitton by Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z spoke about the importance of dreams, drive and ambition before referencing his wife of 14 years.

‘I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year,’ Jay-Z said.

Jay-Z has been accused of pitting Beyonce against Taylor Swift after he called out the Grammys for never awarding his wife Album Of The Year during Sunday’s ceremony

Jay-Z launched into an impassioned rant in front of his wife as he pointed out the ludicrousness that Beyonce is the Grammy’s most-awarded artist but none for the top prize

Beyonce and Taylor have been pitted against each other for 15 years since Kanye declared the mother-of-three was robbed at the 2009 MTV VMAs when Taylor won Best Female Video

Jay-Z celebrates in style drinking champagne out of his Grammy

‘So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys; never won Album of the Year. That doesn’t work.’

The camera then cut to Beyonce, looking slightly apprehensive in the audience.

Taking aim at other nominees, Jay-Z continued: ‘Some of you are gonna go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category. When I get nervous, I tell the truth.’

Viewers were quick to speculate if he was taking aim at Taylor with his remarks, who has received 52 Grammy nominations and won 14, four of which have been Album Of The Year.

Her latest win saw her triumph over Boygenius – The Record, Janelle Monáe – The Age of Pleasure, Jon Batiste – World Music Radio, Lana Del Rey – Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Miley Cyrus – Endless Summer Vacation, Olivia Rodrigo – Guts and SZA – SOS.

Conversely, Beyonce has been nominated for 88 competitive Grammy Awards, six times for Album of the Year.

Jay-Z has also been nominated for 88 competitive Grammy Awards, winning 24 of them. Like his wife, six of his nominations have been for Album of the Year.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, during Jay-Z’s speech, viewers compared his rant to Kanye’s while one fan noted that men have tried to pit Beyonce and Taylor against one another, noting:’ So Jay-Z and Kanye West are best mates again?

‘At least she was able to finish this time. It’s funny, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé literally show up for each other. It is toxic masculinity that perpetuates the wicked female narrative. #GRAMMYs.’

The Brooklyn-born rapper made his speech at Sunday night’s Grammys when he was honoured with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award for his contribution to the music industry

Viewers were quick to speculate if Jay-Z was taking aim at Taylor with his remarks, who has received 52 Grammy nominations and won 14, four of which have been Album Of The Year (Beyonce and Taylor pictured in October)

Taking to X, formerly Twitter , during Jay-Z’s speech, viewers compared his rant to Kanye’s while one fan noted that men have tried to pit Beyonce and Taylor against one another

Others added: ‘Jay-Z is “imma let you finish” away from being Kanye #GRAMMYs’; ‘Jay-Z really just pulled a Kanye! This acceptance speech is mad awkward!’; ‘Beyonce having Taylor and Kanye flashback during Jay-Z’s #GRAMMYs speech’;

‘Jay-Z gave the diet soda version of Kanye’s “Beyoncé had the best video of all time” rant up there’; ‘Why didn’t they pan the camera to Taylor when Jay-Z was talking? #Grammys’;

‘No tea no shade but the fact that Taylor Swift predictably wins #AOTY every time she’s nominated sort of proves Jay-Z right… #GRAMMYs’; ‘Jay-Z gonna be mad about Taylor winning another album of the year’; ‘Taylor Swift sitting at the #Grammys wondering if Jay-Z was shading her’

‘It’s annoying bc one of the Grammy voters were like “Beyonce has so many Grammys she doesn’t need to always win” but here is Taylor on her way to winning 4 AOTY when Bey has NONE. They push white women forward just to compete and overshadow phenomenal Black women. In this essay..’;

‘I just hate everything Taylor stand for. Being average af and so rewarded for while Black women have to be extraordinary just to get in the damn room.’

Beyonce and Taylor have been pitted against each other for 15 years since Kanye declared the mother-of-three was robbed at the 2009 MTV VMAs.

When Taylor, who was 19 at the time, was giving an acceptance speech for Best Female Video, Kanye stormed the stage and declared that Beyonce’s music video deserved to win over Taylor’s.

During the live broadcast, Kanye grabbed the mic from Taylor’s hand, to tell the audience that Beyoncé’s Single Ladies video deserved the award, instead of Taylor’s You Belong With Me.

‘Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish,’ Kanye said as he took to the stage. ‘But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!’

Later in the evening, when Beyonce picked up an award of her own, she famously called Taylor to the stage in a display of unity and invited her to finish the acceptance speech that Kanye had so rudely interrupted.

Last year, the pair continued to show each other support as they attended the premieres for each other’s concert tour films.

Yet the narrative that they are feuding has still prevailed, despite Taylor insisting that she is ‘actively rejecting’ it.

With his 12-year-old daughter Blue Ivy standing on stage beside him, and Beyonce looking on from their table in the audience, Jay-Z spoke about the importance of dreams and ambition

Jay-Z launched into his critique of the awards, and his condemnation of the failure to recognize his wife, during his impassioned speech

Taylor told TIME magazine last year: ‘[Beyonce] is the most precious gem of a person— warm and open and funny. And she’s such a great disrupter of music-industry norms.

‘She taught every artist how to flip the table and challenge archaic business practices… There were so many stadium tours this summer, but the only ones that were compared were me and Beyoncé.

‘Clearly it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other – even when those two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion.

‘I think it’s radical and beautiful that the two of us actively reject that conversation. I know we’ve evolved past that conversation because she and I are trying to do bigger things.’

Elsewhere in Jay-Z’s Grammys speech he said the awards were subjective – but nice to win.

At the start of his speech, he joked that his Grammy Awards used to be used as sippy cups for Blue Ivy – but now ‘she has her own Grammys,’ he said.

The 12-year-old won her first Grammy aged nun, with a writing credit for Brown Skin Girl, which won in 2021 for her mother.

Jay-Z continued: ‘How far we’ve come from Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff winning their first Grammy in ’89 and boycotting because it wasn’t televised.

‘And then they went to the hotel and watched the Grammys. I didn’t even understand. It wasn’t a great boycott.’

He said that he then did a similar thing.

‘But then ’98, I took a page out of their book. I was nominated for Best Rap Album, and DMX had dropped two albums that year. They both were number one — shout out to DMX — and he wasn’t nominated at all.

‘So I boycotted and I watched the Grammys.

‘I’m just saying, we want y’all to get it right. We love y’all. We love y’all. We love y’all. We want y’all to get it right. At least get it close to right.’

He then launched into his critique of the awards, and his condemnation of the failure to recognize his wife.

‘Obviously it’s subjective because it’s music and it’s opinion-based,’ he said. ‘So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.

‘Some of you are gonna go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category. When I get nervous, I tell the truth.’

The music mogul celebrated his win by pouring his own-brand D’ussé cognac into his Grammy

Jay-Z takes a swig of cognac from his Grammy

He added: ‘But outside of that, we got to keep showing up — and forget the greatness for a second, just in life.

‘As my daughter sits and stares at me nervous as I am, you got to keep showing up. Just keep showing up to get the Grammys.

‘You got to keep showing up until they give you all those accolades you feel you deserve. Until they call you champion, until they call you a genius, until they call you the greatest of all time.’

This year’s Dr. Dre Global Impact Award was shared by Jay-Z, Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey.

The award, created in 2022, has previously been presented to John Legend, Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott, Lil Wayne, and music executive Sylvia Rhone.