I know that awards are given out for artistic merit, not charming personality, and we can debate whether you can safely love the art and not the artist if you’re a fan of Brown’s music. But the decision to ask Brown to perform at music’s biggest event of the year is of a different sort. That’s a warm embrace from his industry and his community. You can’t shun someone you’re clapping for. You can see Brown basking in the glow of approval—the only ugly way he seems to know how—in his tweet calling his Grammy “the ultimate FUCK OFF!” This is not a week in which Brown had to reckon with his critics much, because the affirmation he received came from a far more powerful source.