Afrobeats singer Ayra Starr calls out the organisers of Headies Awards for their lack of recognition and nonchalant attitude towards female artists.

Starr won the Best Female Artiste category but was disappointed that the award was not announced on stage. She expressed her frustration on Twitter, highlighting the hard work and dedication of female artists in the industry.

The singer trumped industry heavyweights like Tiwa Savage, Simi and Tems to emerge winner of the Best Female Artiste category at the 16th edition of Headies, which was held on Sunday at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, Atlanta, United States of America.

Surprisingly, the organisers failed to present awards in 13 categories on stage, including Ayra Starr’s, when event host, Osas Ighodaro, announced the abrupt end of the event.

The Mavins Record signee, took to X (twitter) on Monday, where she wrote: “I will never be grateful for winning a category that wasn’t even deemed fit to be announced on stage!”

Hailing her fellow nominees for their dedication to the craft, Starr slammed the organisers for their “nonchalance” towards the female hit makers.

“Best female artist na beans? We work hard, every single one of us! I’ve seen Tiwa record four hit songs in the same night, Tems breathes and lives for music. We didn’t deserve such nonchalance! Nigeria, you didn’t raise me to settle for less,” she added.

Headies’ organisers have not responded to to Starr’s remarks but TCN can authoritatively report that an industry stakeholder who is very close to Headies team responded on a popular whatssap platform for artistes that Starr’s angst stemmed from the fact that Headies team refused to honour her request to be flown in a private jet from New York to Atlanta.

The stakeholder added that several categories were not announced at the live event because most of the nominees were not physically present at the show.

TCN reliably learnt that Tiwa Savage, a nominee, also failed to attend the awards ceremony even though she was in Atlanta already.

Savage had a show at the Atlanta Theatre in Buck Head on Monday, a day after Headies Awards, in which he featured Wande Coal.

It was gathered that Savage snubbed the ceremony due to the organisers’ failure to accede to her request of being flown in a private jet for last year’s event.