John Mayer played guitar during Maren Morris' performance of "The Bones" at the Grammys on Sunday.- Mayer's name trended on Twitter as fans called out his past problematic behavior.
- The performance ignited a conversation about whether he should perform at the Grammys.
John Mayer performed at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night, which led several of his problematic comments and actions from years ago to resurface online.
The musician, 43, played guitar during Maren Morris' live performance of her Grammy-nominated track "The Bones" at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Shortly after the song ended, the controversial comments Mayer made during a 2010 Playboy interview resurfaced online. During the conversation, he said he had a penis that's "sort of like a white supremacist" and used the N-word.
He later apologized for his comments.
Over 10 years later, many debated online whether Mayer should have an opportunity to perform at the Grammys, especially after the Recording Academy said it made an effort to diversify its membership and organization in recent years.
"Every time Maren Morris gets close to John Mayer I get nervous. Girl, your life is on track. Keep six feet," Tressie McMillan Cottom, a writer and professor, wrote on Twitter after the performance.
-Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) March 15, 2021
Brittany Spanos, a staff writer at Rolling Stone, tweeted: "How do we put a stop to john mayer."
-brittany spanos (@ohheybrittany) March 15, 2021
The writer David Dennis Jr. wrote on Twitter: "Remember when John Mayer called his junk a white supremacist because he could never be aroused by Black women?"
-David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) March 15, 2021
Other people were eager to watch Mayer perform at the show and viewed the segment as a highlight of the evening.
Pete Blackburn, a writer for CBS Sports, tweeted: "This is the best Grammys ever and I haven't even laid eyes and ears on John Mayer yet."
-Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) March 15, 2021
"Lord baby Jesus please bless us with a Harry Styles and John Mayer combo appearance," the Barstool Sports writer Ria tweeted.
-Ria (@BarstoolRia) March 15, 2021
Nick Russo, the
-Nick Russo (@Kingnickrusso) March 15, 2021
Mayer has faced a wider backlash after the release of 'Framing Britney Spears'
Much of the criticism surrounding Mayer on Sunday ties back to his ex-girlfriend
Swift and Mayer dated from 2009 to 2010, and many fans believe their split inspired Swift's breakup ballad "Dear John," which describes a manipulative relationship.
The "Speak Now" singer never confirmed the meaning behind the song. She has said the song's subject matter was straightforward, however, according to Rolling Stone. Since then, Swift's fans have criticized Mayer and accused him of mistreating his ex, who is 13 years younger than him, during their relationship.
Some fans argued that the guitarist, who was last nominated for a Grammy Award in 2011, didn't deserve to perform on the same stage as Swift, who racked in six nominations this year, and wondered whether they'd have any behind-the-scenes interactions.
-sydney (@hahahaas_syd) March 14, 2021
-tara (named after a hill) (@taysute17) March 8, 2021
-memphis (@femperson) March 15, 2021
-ً (@ciIIiqns) March 15, 2021
The release of the New York Times documentary "Framing Britney Spears," which examines sexism and misogyny in the
After the guitarist told Andy Cohen on SiriusXM that he "almost cried five times" while watching the documentary, people resurfaced old anecdotes about Mayer's treatment of his former partners and said he contributed to mistreatment toward women.
While many homed in on his past relationship with Swift, others pointed to concrete examples of Mayer's problematic behavior toward Jessica Simpson, which the singer detailed in her 2020 memoir, "Open Book."
In the book, Simpson, who dated Mayer in 2006, said the guitarist broke up with her dozens of times via email and made her feel inadequate.
"He would tell me that my true self is so much greater than the person I was settling on being," she said, according to People.
"I constantly worried that I wasn't smart enough for him," she wrote, adding: "I was so afraid of disappointing him that I couldn't even text him without having someone check my grammar and spelling."
The couple broke up permanently after Mayer referred to Simpson as a "sexual napalm" during his 2010 Playboy interview.
"He thought that was what I wanted to be called," she wrote, per People. "I was floored and embarrassed that my grandmother was actually gonna read that."
Correction: Insider changed the headline of a previous version of this story, removing the words "history of racism and misogyny."