'The Voice' Voters Branded Racist By Fans as Season 22 Finalists Announced

Viewers of NBC's The Voice have accused some of the show's fans of racism after the results of the semi-final vote were revealed.

The season 22 semi-finals took place this week, with the top eight taking to the stage on Monday evening to fight for a spot in the grand finale. On Tuesday it was revealed which acts were successful and which were being sent home.

Coaches Gwen Stefani and Camila Cabello both had only one act left in the competition, while Blake Shelton and John Legend had three each ahead of the results show.

During Tuesday's episode host Carson Daly revealed the results of the public vote, confirming that all three of Shelton's remaining acts—Bryce Leatherwood, Bodie and Brayden Lape—as well as Cabello's one remaining singer—Morgan Myles—had made it through to the final.

This meant that all of Legend's remaining acts—Kim Cruse, Parijita Bastola and Omar Jose Cardona—were in the bottom four, alongside Stefani's Justin Aaron.

Each act had one more chance to perform, with Cruse giving a rendition of "All by Myself" by Eric Carmen and Bastola singing "Make You Feel My Love" by Bob Dylan. Aaron opted for "Made a Way" by Travis Greene while Cardona covered "You and I" by Lady Gaga.

It was then time for the Instant Save and after the public votes had been counted Cardona was revealed as the fifth and final singer to make it to next week's final.

When the bottom four were revealed, some fans were unimpressed with the results of the public vote and rushed to social media to air their views.

Many viewers were quick to point out on Twitter that each act in the bottom four was a person of color, while the four who were saved by the public vote were white. This led some to accuse The Voice's fan base of being racist.

One fan posted: "Every time I hold out hope that the people that vote on #TheVoice aren't racist, but then you see all [4] white faces advance and 4 of the most talented brown people standing there and it seems nothing changes."

Another posted: "I really hope not but its hard not to think there is some racist undertone in the voting that leads to all 4 of the bottom being POC and at least 2 of the ones who made it thru are nowhere near as good as the others. #thevoice @NBCTheVoice."

"The demographic who watches The Voice is definitely racist and favors the young, white, country male singers. They're not even the most talented. Let a POC get the spotlight they deserve. #TheVoice," added a third.

While a fourth tweeted: "I am done with The Voice after this season. Literally NONE of these people deserve to be at the bottom. People aren't voting for actual talent but because Blake is the coach. And it's been racist for years. Was hoping things would change."

Others, however, disagreed, with one fan writing: "Why was this racist? Clearly not everyone enjoys Broadway singers..voice is and always has been diverse despite poc being less than 13% of population..quit with the gaslighting #TheVoice."

"Twitter is so predictable. Here's the last winner of #TheVoice. People vote for people because they think they're hot, they like a particular genre of music, they loved a song that they sang, etc. NOT EVERYTHING IS RACIST YOU IMBECILES!" added another, alongside a picture of Cam Anthony, who is Black.

Newsweek has contacted representatives for The Voice and NBC for comment.

Anthony was crowned the winner of season 21 of The Voice in December 2021 and became the fourth African American male winner, following Chris Blue in season 12, Jermaine Paul in season 2 and Javier Colon in season 1.

Jamaican recording artist Tessanne Chin won season 5 of The Voice as part of Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine's team, the only woman of color to have won the competition.

The Voice voters also faced accusations of racism back in 2018 when Kennedy Holmes, a Black, then-14-year-old R&B singer from St. Louis, finished in fourth place on season 15, despite many tipping her to win.

Many, including The View co-host Sunny Hostin, were confused by her placing in the grand finale.

One fan tweeting at the time said: "Eliminate the black people first... you're not slick but okay #thevoice."

"I agree it is shocking and doesn't make sense at all," replied a viewer.

Others disagreed, posting: "Jesus why does it have to be about race they made it into the top 4.. obviously a lot of people were voting for them," and, "Why does everything have to revolve around race? People are people."

Next week's The Voice grand finale will be split into two parts, with part one airing on December 12 and part two, the last episode of the season, airing on December 13.

The voting for the finale will start at 8 p.m. ET on Monday on the show's official app, or online at NBC.com/VoiceVote, and will remain open until 7 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

The season 22 finale will mark the final appearances of Stefani, Legend and Cabello as next season they are being replaced by One Direction's Niall Horan, Chance the Rapper and returning coach Kelly Clarkson.

Shelton, who has been on the show since its very first season, will join the new trio as a coach for season 23 but then he will also leave, as was confirmed earlier this year.

The Voice concludes Monday and Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC. Episodes will be available on Peacock the day after their live airing.