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Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Two women are set to deliver the Democrats’ State of the Union response, Coco Gauff is knocked out of the Australian Open, and the Grammys decide the show must go on. Have a productive Monday.
– The show must go on. It was a solemn night for the Grammy Awards as the music industry gathered in the L.A. Staples Center, the home of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who died along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
But the awards went on nonetheless, with 18-year-old Billie Eilish sweeping the four most prestigious awards—album, record and song of the year, and best new artist. She won five in total, and the evening seemed to officially anoint her as music’s biggest new star. Michelle Obama also won a statue for her audiobook for Becoming, and Lizzo captured the prizes for best pop solo performance, best urban contemporary album, and best traditional R&B performance.
The ceremony followed a week that saw ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan in a drawn-out battle with her former employer, the organization behind the awards. The Recording Academy said an assistant had accused Dugan of bullying, a charge she denies. Dugan responded by filing an EEOC complaint saying she had been suspended for uncovering misconduct and corruption in the institution. Among her claims: that she was harassed by the Recording Academy’s general counsel and that Neil Portnow, her predecessor as CEO, had been accused of rape by an artist. (Portnow denies the allegations.)
Not ideal circumstances for an awards show. Dugan herself had said she hoped not to taint the ceremony—it’s “about the musicians and the fans,” she told the L.A. Times—and for the most part, the Grammys did what the Grammys do. But there are reports that we missed out on one performance—a surprise from Taylor Swift, who appears to have pulled out amid the Dugan controversy. The icing on the cake: Swift was apparently planning to perform “The Man,” her song about gendered double standards and life as a woman in the spotlight.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Ready to respond. The State of the Union is coming up on Feb. 4, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will deliver the Democrats' response. Whitmer is known for her efforts to expand access to health care; Sen. Amy Klobuchar mentioned Whitmer on stage in a recent debate. (You may remember Klobuchar struggling to recall Whitmer's name!) Rep. Veronica Escobar (D–Texas) will deliver the Democrats' Spanish-language response. CNN
- Rest in peace. Leila Janah was a serial entrepreneur, known for her efforts to end global poverty and as the founder and CEO of the machine learning training data company Samasource. She died at 37 from the cancer Epithelioid Sarcoma, her company said. Read about Janah's legacy here: TechCrunch
- The beauty in surrogacy. Girls Who Code CEO Reshma Saujani writes about her journey with surrogacy. After several miscarriages, she turned to a surrogate to have her second child. "I entered the surrogacy process to have a son, and what I found was a sister, a family, and a renewed belief that people are fundamentally good," Saujani writes. Vogue
- A forgotten warehouse. Puerto Ricans last week called for the resignation Governor Wanda Vázquez after a warehouse of supplies meant to help residents recover from Hurricane Maria two years ago was found unused. "I respect the constitutional right of citizens to demonstrate," said Vázquez, who herself replaced a governor forced to resign last year, after she fired three officials because of the discovery. CNN
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Eve Tahmincioglu will join the Economic Policy Institute as communications director.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Trump vs. CA. The Trump administration threatened to withhold federal funding for some health programs from California if the state does not stop requiring all private insurers to cover abortions. The announcement is also being seen as a warning to other states, including New York, Oregon, Washington, which have the same requirements. New York Times
- Game, set, match. Tennis phenom Coco Gauff won her Australian Open match against reigning champ Naomi Osaka on Friday, but Gauff was knocked out of the tournament by Sofia Kenin on Sunday. "I really didn’t think I would be such a favorite," Gauff said, after the stadium chanted, "Here we go, Coco, here we go." NBC News
- On the record. NPR journalist Mary Louise Kelly interviewed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and after she asked about the treatment of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, Pompeo shouted at Kelly and asked her to point to Ukraine on a map. The State Department then released a statement accusing Kelly of lying about the exchange. NPR
- An American scandal. American Dirt is Oprah's book club pick, a highly anticipated novel about a Mexican mother and son who flee for the United States border that sold for seven figures in 2018. But author Jeanine Cummins is now the story, accused of exploiting the experiences of migrants—a criticism not helped by a book party that featured barbed wire decorations and Cummins's barbed wire manicure (it resembles the cover of her book). "Voices of color, and women’s voices have been hijacked for a very long time ... but I don’t feel like I’m responsible for the problem," Cummins said at a recent book event. New York Times
ON MY RADAR
(Almost) everything you know about the invention of the vibrator is wrong New York Times
Endorsement: Elizabeth Warren Des Moines Register
New Nancy Drew comic celebrates beloved sleuth’s 90th birthday by killing her Polygon
PARTING WORDS
"If you’re a working woman, you need a wife."
-An anonymous CEO and mother who wrote a viral job listing searching for a "household manager/cook/nanny"
