Rozonda Thomas, who goes by the stage name Chilli, reminisced about her famous 1996 Grammy speech.
For those who don’t know, the 55-year-old American singer and dancer won two awards at the 1996 Grammy Awards in the categories of Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best R&B Album.
She gave a memorable speech after winning the award, saying that their paychecks still do not reflect the great amount of success they have achieved after years of giving to the music world.
At the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 26, 2026, she chatted with PEOPLE magazine, reflecting on her viral speech segments.
Chilli expressed her thoughts and said, “Oh yeah. You know what’s funny? My son sent that to me. He said, ‘Mom, I’ve never seen this before.’ And it’s so funny. Yes, but that was real.”
“We didn’t pull it off. But I’m sure the label wasn’t happy that we said that, but it was the truth,” she joked.
“Hilarious. Yes it was the truth,” captioned T-Boz, who also attended the iHeartRadio Music Awards with her.
The Let’s do it again singer went on to say that she hoped their story would resonate with the artists.
“We hope our story has been helpful to many other artists. And obviously we’ve learned so much and we’re absolutely in control of our business. So we don’t play those games,” Chilli noted.
