Music industry stars will wear white roses to show solidarity for the #TimesUp movement at the 2018 Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday.
According to reports, the planned demonstration was put together by Roc Nation senior VP, Meg Harkins, and Karen Rait, rhythm promotion at Interscope/Geffen/A&M records, when they realised that there had been no prior plans made to support the movement against sexual harassment.
Billboard revealed that earlier this week, the two music industry figures called a group of women in the industry together to discuss what to do. They decided on the white rose as it is both practical and acts as a nod to the suffragettes, who wore white in their protests.
Halsey, Rapsody, Kelly Clarkson, Cyndi Lauper, Dua Lipa, Rita Ora, Tom Morello and others will either participate by wearing white roses or have signed on in support of the demonstration as well.
At this year’s Golden Globe awards, many stars wore black in solidarity with victims of sexual harassment or assault following the Harvey Weinstein scandal that shook Hollywood last year.
“It grew like wildfire,” Harkins said of the white rose idea. “It is an important conversation politically in our country and it’s also a conversation we need to have internally with our artists and our companies.
“We need to say if anyone is feeling like they’re being discriminated against and they don’t feel safe in their workplace, they have people who will support them.”
Rait added: “It’s very important that we stay on their message,” referring to the work by film industry figures at last weekend’s Women’s March and Golden Globes.
