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BRITs presented, Adele’s speech cut short

By | Published on Wednesday 22 February 2012

BRIT Awards

Well, thank God for ITV and its passion for good time keeping at non-sport related events, ensuring there was at least a tiny little bit of scandal to spice up the 2012 BRIT Awards. The UK record industry’s annual back slapping fest has become a rather slick affair in recent years, especially since its move east to The O2, which makes for a good live show if you’re there, but pretty lacklustre television. Perhaps I’m showing my age, but for me, unless a bum is wiggled, a political leader drenched, or a pissed up DJ offends a rock icon, well, British music hasn’t been truly celebrated. And dragging Blur on stage for the finale surely only reminded older viewers of those heady days of BRIT Awards chaos in the 1990s.

But, just as it looked like the newspapers were going to have to lead with “everyone we thought would win won”, or possibly “George Michael sufficiently not dead to present an award”, ITV handed The Sun and The Mirror their front pages as it insisted host James Corden cut off the undeniable star of the evening, double award winner and Britain’s biggest selling singer of the moment, Adele, as she tried to deliver her second acceptance speech. It seems that if ITV viewers don’t get their scheduled news fix at 10pm they are liable to riot (word has it that’s what happened last August), and while Damon Albarn’s inane rambling earlier in the evening had probably pushed everything behind schedule in the first place, that was no reason to cut the Blur end-of-show set, “so get that bloody Adkins woman off the stage would you, Corden?”

Adkins, presumably inspired by MIA, gave the cameras the finger (a “fuck off” to the show’s producers, she later clarified), providing the perfect photo for what was now everyone’s lead BRITS story. So much so, the PR machine was in action by midnight, with ITV telling reporters “the BRITs is a live event. Unfortunately the programme was over running and we had to move on. We would like to apologise to Adele for the interruption”.

A BRITs spokesman added: “We regret this happened and we send our deepest apologies to Adele that her big moment was cut short this evening due to the live show over-running. We don’t want this to undermine her incredible achievement in winning our night’s biggest award. It tops off what’s been an incredible year for her”.

So there you go, “ITV and BRIT bosses conspire with Mastercard to embarrass Britain’s favourite singing sensation”. Thank God for that, prior to Cut-Short-Speech-Gate I had literally nothing to say about this year’s BRITs. And look, now I’ve managed 448 words without even saying, here’s a full list of this year’s winners…

British Male Solo Artist: Ed Sheeran
British Female Solo Artist: Adele
British Breakthrough Act: Ed Sheeran
British Group: Coldplay
Critics’ Choice: Emeli Sandé
British Producer: Ethan Johns

British Single: One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful
British Album: Adele – 21

International Male Solo Artist: Bruno Mars
International Female: Rihanna
International Group: Foo Fighters
International Breakthrough Act: Lana Del Rey

Outstanding Contribution To Music: Blur

Watch the video below to see Adele explain why she raised her middle finger after her acceptance speech was cut off:



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