Harry Styles was spotted out and about in LA on Tuesday (Picture: LESE / BACKGRID)
Harry Styles has been seen for the first time since scooping the best album gong at this year’s Grammys.
The As It Was crooner was spotted heading to a workout class in LA on Tuesday, decked out in shorts, a hoody and blacked-out shades.
In recent days, the 29-year-old has been called out for his ‘white male privilege’ after claiming his Grammy win was a rarity for ‘people like him’.
And Harry looked a smidge stern when he stepped out in California this week, throwing photographers an expressionless glance before heading inside.
The former One Directioner clutched his phone in his right hand and wore his hair swept from his face as he went about his day.
In his acceptance speech over the weekend, Harry’s comment that ‘this doesn’t happen to people like me very often’ irked those that felt the popstar’s win over Beyoncé and Latin artist Bad Bunny was a sign of a ‘white male privilege’.
The As It Was crooner was decked out in shorts, a hoody and blacked-out shades (Picture: LESE / BACKGRID)
Harry looked a smidge stern when he stepped out in California this week, throwing photographers an expressionless glance before heading inside (Picture: LESE / BACKGRID)
One commented: ‘“This doesn’t happen to people like me very often” you are literally a white man.’ Another joined in: ‘Harry styles said “this doesn’t happen to people like me” b***h it only happens to people like you, you’re literally the pinnacle of white privilege and a black woman hasn’t won that award since 1999, what exactly do you mean young man?’
One other said: ‘If there was ever a time when specificity was necessary, it was after #HarryStyles delivered THAT line. Elaborate babes so people dont put their own assumed narrative on your words.
‘Bet money we could have avoided all this discourse, cuz now it sounds tone deaf AF!’
Another critic weighed in: ‘Harry Styles….. a cishet white man…… got up on stage at the biggest award show in the world and said “this doesn’t happen to people like me”. How tone deaf could you possibly be I would really like to know what he meant by that.’
In recent days, the 29-year-old has been called out for his ‘white male privilege’ after claiming his Grammy win was a rarity for ‘people like him’ (Picture: VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
Beyoncé, 41, would have been the first Black female artist to win the album of the year Grammy since 1999 when Lauryn Hill won for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Picture: AP/Rex)
However, many others – particularly from the UK – jumped to Harry’s defence and suggested that the singer was referring to his upbringing in a small town in Worcestershire, rising to fame on The X Factor and not having the benefit of nepotism.
Offering a different perspective, one supporter said: ‘I’ve seen this quite a lot re: the grammys and i think it’s very telling of the american perception of class as a marginalised characteristic compared to the uk because i immediately knew what he was on about, while i’m sympathetic to how it *can* read.’
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Another wrote: ‘Harry Styles is one of the most humble, grateful, most aware of his privilege celebrities out there. He says “things like this don’t happen to people like me” at almost every show. It’s not Grammy specific. He means people from small towns without industry connections.’
Throwing the singer another bone, one other fan explained the difference in attitudes towards class in the UK and the US.
‘The uk has a complicated relationship to class wherein even if you are successful it’s hard to actually “transcend” class (esp in arts), which is why we have such deep new money, old money divide and regional bias (again see how it *will* fairly be read but that is the context),’ another said.
One asked: ‘Are we sure he doesn’t just mean someone who used to be in a boy band?’
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Beyoncé, 41, would have been the first Black female artist to win the album of the year Grammy since 1999 when Lauryn Hill won for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Harry’s reps for comment.
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Not everyone was a fan of his acceptance speech.
