The 2022 Grammy Awards were held on Sunday (April 3) at the MGM Grand Garden Center in Las Vegas, and during the show's "In Memoriam" segment for those we've lost over the past year, fashion pioneer Virgil Abloh was honored. Abloh was artistic director of Louis Vuitton and founder of fashion label Off White; he passed on November 28th, 2021, after a two-year battle with cancer.  In the Grammy's tribute, Abloh was described as a “Hip Hop fashion designer." Many found the description inaccurate and disrespectful, and social media has been abuzz with disapproval.

One Twitter user posted: “Virgil was Creative Director of LV, Owner of Off-White, Architect, Contemporary Artist, etc. Stop trying to downplay this man. Uncultured mfs.” Another user said: “I’m expecting the title “Rock & Roll fashion designer “ to be placed on someone.”

“Not many people can do what Virgil Abloh did in his 41 years of life on this planet" Pisano said. "To create and innovate across so many different industries, producing top level work across all these disciplines – fashion art, music, product design, architecture, engineering, reducing him to a ‘Hip Hop fashion designer' on an international stage disrespects his legacy and  contributions to culture as a whole.”

Pisano continued: “The Grammys slapped the easiest and most palatable (for them) label they could on an unconventional genius.”

The same "In Memoriam" segment that mislabeled Abloh mistakenly displayed an image of singer Trisco Pearson of the Force MD’s, when it was Jesse Daniel of the same group who they were memorializing. Pearson died in 2016.