One of the viewers less than thrilled with Bad Bunny’s performance at Sunday’s Grammys, titled “SINGING NON-ENGLISH,” was U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), who appears to be the CBS president and CEO who contacted George Cheeks. for an explanation of the error.
Viewers took to social media to complain that the subtitles did not translate what the artist was singing or saying. All they saw were the three words SPEAK NON-ENGLISH, so those who don’t speak Spanish couldn’t understand what Bad Bunny was singing or what he was saying when he won the Grammy for Best Música Urbana Album.
In response to the backlash, CBS finally added Spanish-language subtitles to reruns of Bad Bunny’s Grammy performances. Meanwhile, Cheeks answered a question from Garcia. The letter is below.
Dear Representative Garcia:
Thank you for your letter and feedback about the Grammy Awards.
Our biggest live entertainment event of the year, the Grammys, is a night of diverse artists and voices. We were proud to open the show to national and global audiences with a thrilling Spanish-language performance by Grammy Award-winner Bad Bunny.
Unfortunately, mistakes were made in the captions of his performance and the acceptance speech that followed. We worked with a captioning provider who did not meet the standards we hold ourselves to. In any case, we should have monitored the situation more closely. Real-time bilingual (English and Spanish) live captions should have been used and the words used on screen were insensitive to many. I take full responsibility for what happened.
As you confirmed in your letter, our subtitles team worked quickly tonight to resolve the issue and updated the subtitles for the West Coast Encore and later for on-demand playback on our streaming platform. Our teams are now re-examining the closed captioning process for all live entertainment events on the network to ensure we correctly transcribe the Spanish language content. We will keep you updated on our efforts in this area.
Rest assured that diversity in our programming and an inclusive experience for our audience will continue to be a top priority for CBS.
George Cheeks
Source: Deadline
Ashley Root is an author and celebrity journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for all things celebrity, Ashley is always up-to-date on the latest gossip and trends in the world of entertainment.
