At last night’s Video Music Awards, there were plenty of well-deserved wins, including Lil Nas X receiving the Video Of The Year award for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” Olivia Rodrigo nabbing Best New Artist, and BTS being crowned Group Of The Year.

It’s already a struggle for Latin artists to receive awards in non-Latin awards shows, with Bad Bunny receiving his first “gringo” Grammy this year for Best Latin Pop Or Urban Album with his 2020 record YHLQMDLG, so awarding non-Latinx artists in a “Latin” category shows how little importance is given to Latin mega-stars.

Rosalía was nominated for Top Latin Female Artist at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, Favorite Female Artist—Latin at the 2020 American Music Awards, and Best New Pop/Urban Latin Artist at the 2019 Latin American Music Awards.

Instead of continuously awarding a non-Latin artist for Latin awards, it’s time to rework categories to be more inclusive of Hispanic-based genres, and give Latin artists the proper accolades they deserve

It’s shameful that it’s 2021 and awards ceremonies are still lumping together anyone who sings in Spanish as “Latin.” We need awards shows to recognize that Latin isn’t really a genre, just a categorization for music made by people who are Latinx—and an extremely outdated one at that