Music

Stompin' Tom Connors won't be honoured at the Junos

by Tyler Munro

Stompin’ Tom gives back his Junos. Image screencapped via this video)

Ever the old crank, Stompin’ Tom Connors’ beef with the Juno Awards will extend into the afterlife with the National Post reporting that he won’t be honoured at this year’s awards, a wish he apparently expressed with his last wishes.

Connors famously protested the awards in 1978, saying that they’d taken a turn to celebrating “turncoat Canadians” who had moved across to bigger fame in the United States. He gave back his awards and said he’d no longer accept nominations for his work.

“I feel that the Junos should be for people who are living in Canada, whose main base of business operations is in Canada, who are working toward the recognition of Canadian talent in this country and who are trying to further the export of such talent from this country to the world with a view to proudly showing off what this country can contribute to the world market,” he said.

As for the six awards he had already won, Connors gave them back, stating “as far as I am concerned you can give them to the border jumpers who didn’t receive an award this year.”

A Canadian icon revered for his quirky folk songs and unabashed patriotism, Stompin’ Tom Connors died of natural causes last month. This year’s Juno Awards are set to take place on April 21st in Regina, Saskatchewan.