This year, MTV Tr3s partnered up with Korean automaker Kia Motors to crown the Tr3s Best Latino Artist of the Year, an award said to "honor" the 2012 Video Music Awards.
And this morning in a press release sent out by network, it was announced that bachata king Romeo Santos had beat out the likes of Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez to win.
The only problem, Santos isn't getting any camera time during tonight's live telecast of the MTV VMAs.
The bilingual portion of the show will air during the Spanish-subtitled rebroadcast on Saturday, September 15, more than a week after the original airdate.
Despite the fact his music won't be exposed to non-Spanish speaking audiences tonight, however, Santos is thrilled to be 2012's Best Latino.
"It felt great just being nominated alongside these huge Latin crossover artists and winning leaves me speechless," he said in a statement. "I owe it to all the fans for voting. Thank you, what a blessing."
An even bigger blessing would've been if MTV scrapped the "Latino" title and simply voted for "artist of the year" without making it about race.
White, black, Hispanic, Asian, or whatever, an artist is still an artist. And Santos is a damn good one.
Follow Crossfade on Facebook and Twitter @Crossfade_SFL.
