The Grammy Awards, in which many performers gathered to “talk and sing” about the #MeToo and Time’s Up movement, was a ratings bomb. Deadline has the news.

“James Corden’s second kick at the Grammy host can last night saw 19.81 million tune into watch music’s supposedly biggest night. That’s down 24% from the final viewership of the February 12, 2017 Grammys and the worst the CBS aired ceremony has done since 2009.”

This author turned off the television set as soon as he saw Lady Gaga show up on the red carpet with a Times Up rose, which is too bad since she sang very well later. But, this is the same Lady Gaga who knowingly worked with R. Kelly, an alleged sexual predator of teenage girls, on a song and video called “Do What You Want with My Body.” Oh, and the director is another alleged sexual predator, Terry Richardson.

Grammy performers seem to be cheering for themselves more than anything else. Featured image credit: Christopher Polk Getty Images

It’s true that Lady Gaga’s heart is in the right place. It’s also true that she probably regrets many things she did in her past. She’s not a bad person, but she is an absolute hypocrite when it comes to the issue. But she’s certainly not the only one. How many of these singers raised a finger about sexual misbehavior before it was considered safe to do so? Watching Kesha’s Grammy performance of “Praying” is painful. Not only because of what may have happened to the singer but because all of those jumping on the “I Love Kesha” bandwagon after not giving a damn about her for years.

To those of us who almost lost their lives due to sexual assault, all of this at the Grammys comes across as insincere.

“Sexual assault is bad. Sexual assault is sad. Please buy my album,” is the message that these artists are spreading, and they are hurting the cause more than they are helping it.

But, enough of the Grammys. Soon, we’ll have the Oscars to turn off. Then again, we might miss Aziz Ansari show up with a red clock to symbolize the Time’s Up movement. Perhaps he’ll talk more, like he did with the Daily Beast a few years back, on how bad, sad, and mad sexism and sexual harassment is. This is the same Aziz Ansari who was recently accused of sexual misbehavior by an unknown author at Babe.

Ansari has never denied the behavior. And it’s true that Ansari’s recent behavior does, in no way, put him in the same category as Kevin Spacey or Harvey Weinstein. It does not make him any type of criminal. But if Ansari behaved like this, it indeed makes him the type of “creep” that he has rallied against in the past.

Will Joe Biden, who has been widely derided by many publications (including liberal ones such as the Daily Beast and HuffPost for the way he uncomfortably touches girls) show up to announce systemic sexism in Hollywood? Will he speak about men who have been sexually harassed and assaulted — something that is being completely ignored out of fear of one being called “sexist”? Will all of the women who chose to keep quiet about Weinstein for decades announce that their silence, too, has been part of the problem? It’s doubtful.

Whatever happens at the Academy Awards, it’s safe to say that not that many will be watching the show. And that’s a great thing since real victims need time to heal. We don’t need our pain being used as a marketing gimmick.