BRIT Awards: Colin Paterson discusses lack of female nominees
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TalkTV host Piers Morgan, 57, has slammed the BRIT Awards’ decision to only nominate male artists for BRITish artist of the year in 2023. The award show has sparked controversy this year by not nominating any female artists – despite making the award gender-neutral last year in the name of inclusivity.
Sharing a picture of the best artist nominees to his Twitter on Thursday evening, Piers described how his “fears” had been confirmed in view of his 8.3 million followers.
He wrote: “So the @BRITAwards goes gender-neutral and ZERO women get nominated for Artist of the Year.
“Exactly what I feared/predicted. Congrats virtue-signallers!”
With the BRIT Awards only a month away, viewers already know that the winner for best artist will be a man.
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When the nominations for this year’s ceremony emerged on Thursday, there was a backlash over the all-male best artist list.
Shockingly, out of 70 stars who were eligible to be nominated for the prize, only 12 of them were female.
Some stars spoke out about the decision, with Charlatans lead singer Tim Burgess tweeting: “So The BRITs introduced an Artist Of The Year category as a gender neutral replacement for Best Male and Best Female Artist category…
“But this year all five nominees are blokes. One step forward, three steps back.”
Actress and writer Emma Kennedy penned: “No female artists nominated in artist of year is Bull. Shit.” (sic)
Singer Kara Marni wrote: “Sorry but I had to speak on it cuz not a SINGLE woman in sight for the #BRITs AOTY award…. ain’t cool!” (sic)
The five artists nominated for artist of the year include: Harry Styles, Stormzy, George Ezra, Central Cee and Fred Again.
Meanwhile, women who were eligible but who missed out include: Florence + the Machine, Charli XCX, Mabel, Rina Sawayama and Ella Henderson.
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When the BRIT awards announced their gender neutral best artist category last year, a spokesperson said they wanted their show to be “even more inclusive, recognising exceptional work rather than how artists identify”.
Those concerned female artists would be sidelined due to entrenched sexism within the music industry were also relieved when both Adele and Little Simz received nominations in the 2022 category, with female-fronted acts winning 10 out of 15 awards on the night.
However, that does not seem to be the case this year, with part of the reason apparently being that big female stars like Adele and Dua Lipa have been too busy on tour to put out music in the past year.
Moreover, while seven albums from male solo artists made up the top 100 best-sellers from last year, only one female artist – Florence and the Machine – made it at no. 89.
A BRITs spokesperson defended the all-male best artist line-up this year, blaming the omission of female artists on wider issues within the music industry.
They said: “While it’s disappointing there are no nominations in the artist of the year category, we also have to recognise that 2022 saw fewer high profile women artists in cycle with major releases, as was the case in 2021.
“These trends based around the release schedule are a feature of the music industry, but if, over time, a pattern emerges, then this puts the onus on the industry to deal with this important issue.”
The BRIT awards will be broadcast on February 11 at 8pm on ITV.
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