Legendary hitmaker Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, 65, became one of the most talked about celebrities Sunday night after an awkward interaction with a red carpet correspondent at the Grammy Awards.
Viewers are outraged after Krysta Fauria and Leslie Ambriz, two reporters for The Associated Press, abruptly ended his interview during the live pre-show on Feb. 2.
A video clip shows Fauria moving out of the way, presumably not to block the shot of Babyface answering Ambriz’s question about the R&B genre. A pale hand can be seen motioning her to stand up and that’s when she took the opportunity to get the attention of rising pop star Chappell Roan.
“It’s interesting that um,” he began before Fauria yelled to the “Pink Pony Club” singer, who was walking behind him.
“Chappell! Chappell!” Fauria yelled to which Babyface responded, “You guys want to go do that? Go do that.”
Ambriz apologized to the “Whip Appeal” singer for being rushed him off camera to speak with Roan. He handed the microphone back to the interviewers before walking away while, Fauria stood by with a huge grin on her face, excited to speak with Chappell.
The internet exploded once clips of the uncomfortable exchange hit social media, forcing several celebrities and music fans to specifically call out Fauria for disrespecting Babyface.
“13x Grammy Award-winning Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds? Am I seeing this correctly?” said Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Dionne Warrick on X.
Warrick’s post collected over 86,000 likes and 3.6 million views. In a follow-up post, she also tagged the AP’s page and included a screenshot of the definition of the word ‘decorum.’
Khloé Kardashian also weighed in on as she stood up for the highly influential entertainment industry icon.
“This is so disrespectful how Babyface was treated in this interview,” she began. “Babyface has had such a significant impact on the music industry, in sooo many ways. It’s maddening to see a LEGEND not get the respect and attention they deserve. He is a pioneer and deserves so much better than this.”
She continued, “With decades of groundbreaking work as a songwriter, producer, and performer, he’s shaped the sound of multiple generations. I love you @babyface And I am a forever fan and thankful for all that you have blessed us with By the way- what a class act you are PS big or small, old or new, – you don’t treat people like this. At least not in my eyes. There’s a way to handle this and this was wrong in my opinion.”
Actress Gabrielle Union also slammed the red-carpet faux pas in her Instagram Story with a reference to Black History Month.
“Happy Black History Month. Remember, no need to stay for the disrespect,” Union wrote in the post, which featured his quote, “Go do that. -Babyface.”
Boyz II Men member Shawn Stockman admitted to being “bothered” by how the AP journalist “interrupted” his “friend … the legend.” Previously, Babyface produced and co-wrote classic records for Boyz II Men like “End of the Road” and “I’ll Make Love to You.”
Stockman argued that NBA and NFL legends such as Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Deion Sanders would not be handled in the same way as Babyface was handled at the Grammys.
“That would never happen in the NFL or the NBA,” Stockman stated. “It seems to be the opposite in the music industry. The industry tends to have a really bad habit of doing very disrespectful things to people that should be honored.”
The Philadelphia native added, “With the music industry if you’re not considered ‘relevant,’ you get thrown away and discarded … no longer useful and that’s weird to me.”
Rapper Cardi B, who presented the award for Best Rap Album to Doechii, also had words for Fauria sharply interrupting Babyface in front of the world.
Cardi commented “lame a–” on the Hollywood Unlocked’s Instagram post about AP bumping Babyface for Roan. Someone responded, “I’m tryna figure out when [they’re] gonna be fired before or after the show ends.”
A like-minded fan posted, “Well, she needs to be fired.” Another person in HU’s comment section exclaimed, “Whatttttt!! Hell to the naw, not to THE Babyface!!”
“Wow… This man is a legend, don’t play in his face like that!!! She will regret this,” declared an upset Instagram user.
Fauria returned to the live red-carpet presentation that night with Ambriz as well as AP’s Gary Gerard Hamilton to seek amends and issue an apology.
“I wanted to say that I’m really sorry about interrupting Babyface earlier. Chappell Roan had come up, and there was a lot of commotion as there is on these carpets. But I’m a big Babyface fan and as are we all, and so I just wanted to say that I really apologize,” Fauria stated.
However, many people online were not buying Fauria’s mea culpa. Commenters continued to slam her on Instagram.
“This lady is not a Babyface fan and that’s clear,” a Hollywood Unlocked follower declared.
“You’re a big fan but you disrespected him like that? Yeah right,” read a comment on The Shade Room’s post. Another critic offered, “If you were a ‘fan’ you wouldn’t have interrupted him.”
The following morning on Feb. 3, the AP presented an apology to Babyface publicly but did not mention Fauria by name or any possible disciplinary actions.
“We are deeply sorry for cutting our interview with Babyface short on our YouTube livestream of the Grammys red carpet. We have apologized to him through his representative and to our viewers on the livestream,” read the AP’s tweet.
Babyface issued a statement to USA Today via his representative, celebrity publicist Ernest Dukes, in which he turned the focus from the inconsiderate moment to his fellow recording artists.
“The best part of the night was reconnecting with old friends, meeting new artists, and feeling all the love in the room,” Edmonds stated. “That’s what I’ll remember. That’s what it’s really about. Music is bigger than any one moment. Much love to everyone who won and everyone out here making great music.”
Babyface has released multi-platinum studio LPs such as “Tender Lover” in 1989, “For the Cool in You” in 1993, and “The Day” in 1996. The Songwriters Hall of Famer has also written songs for Toni Braxton, Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, and dozens more artists.
