WATCH Thalía faces the jeering and booing crowd at the 19th Latin GRAMMY Awards

Crowd Boos When Absent Luis Miguel Wins Album of the Year at Latin Grammys

Thalía, who presented one of the night’s biggest honors, promised to bring the trophy to ¡México Por Siempre! singer

Luis Miguel was awarded Album of the Year at the Latin Grammys for ¡México Por Siempre!. But in a bizarre moment, after the singer Thalía announced that Miguel was not present to pick up one of the night’s most coveted awards, the crowd started to boo and jeer. Thalía shushed the noisy detractors and assured them she would deliver the Latin Grammy to Miguel personally.

The Album of the Year category was typically stacked this year, with worthy entries from J Balvin, Monsieur Periné, Jorge Drexler, Natalia Lafourcade and more. However, the choice of Luis Miguel — a crooner who released his first album in 1982 — was not out of character for the Latin Recording Academy. In recent years, the organization has consistently handed the Album of the Year award to veteran performers. The last three winners in this category include Rubén Blades with Roberto Delgado & Orquesta for Salsa Big Band, Juan Gabriel for Los Dúo 2 and Juan Luis Guerra for Todo Tiene Su Hora.

Guerra, who released his first album in 1984, has won three times as an artist and once as a producer. Other repeat winners include the Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, who debuted in 1989, and Juanes, the Colombian star who debuted in 2000.

After Miguel won Album of the Year, his co-producer spoke on his behalf in the media room. But when Rolling Stone asked, he didn’t know where the singer was, either.