Despite being a card-carrying SAG (Screen Actors Guild) member, R&B superstar Beyoncé has pledged her allegiance to the Recording Academy by confirming participation in the 50th Annual Grammy Awards show.
The fate of the show is still up in the air, with the Writers Guild of America strike threatening to debilitate the February 10th Grammy Awards much as it did the recent Golden Globes. However, with performers like Beyoncé and the Foo Fighters promising to appear, the Grammy's may go on with some success.
Even as WGA (Writers Guild of America) members have threatened to picket the awards, the Recording Academy is still holding high hopes the show will be granted their request for an interim agreement, after asking for a request earlier this week (Jan. 15).
"The Academy owns all rights to the GRAMMY Awards telecast but does not produce the show and is not a signatory with the WGA," Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow said via statement. "We, however, fully support the offer of the producer, Cossette Productions, to immediately execute an interim agreement under the same terms as those arrangements signed by the WGA with David Letterman's company, Worldwide Pants (airing on the same network as the GRAMMY telecast) as well as other companies. Executing such an agreement would both allow the talented writers for the show to be compensated fairly for their valuable services and allow us to demonstrate support for the creative community of writers in a tangible and meaningful way."
If the WGA does not grant the interim agreement it's likely that both WGA and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) members will picket the show.
Earlier this week SAG spokeswoman Pamela Greenwalt stated that her union's members "have been unwilling to cross a picket line and we anticipate that solidarity will continue," however Beyoncé, who is a SAG member, has already agreed to appear on the show.
"The work of the Recording Academy is vital to the music industry, and we have every intention of being with the entire music community to celebrate the Grammys' 50th birthday in February," Beyoncé's father and manager, Matthew Knowles, said via statement. "Beyoncé, as well as my other artists Solange and Trinitee 5:7 have been asked to participate and will do so. We have an incredible Beyoncé performance that will be announced soon. We wish the Grammys the best."
The 50th Annual Grammy Awards will air live February 10th on CBS.