Pop icon Adele, who successfully took home three awards at the BRITs tonight, was accused of being anti-trans on Twitter following her acceptance speech. During the heartfelt speech, Adele acknowledged that the show had done away with gendered categories, and added that she “loved being a woman and a female artist.
When Adele, 33, stepped onto the stage of the O2 Arena to accept her Artist of the Year award, she took it as an opportunity to express how proud she was of herself and fellow female artists.
During her speech, she said: “I understand why the name of this award has changed, but I love being a woman and being a female artist—I do!
“I’m really proud of us, I really, really am.”
Despite receiving rapturous applause at the live event, her speech went on to spark a furious debate on Twitter.
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The online outcry seemed to stem from a tweet by a Twitter user called OhHeyJacob, which read: “Please, no, ADELE can’t be a TERF.
“That last comment, though ambiguous, could be perceived as TERF-y. Please no.”
This created an uproar, as many Twitter users took to the platform to defend Adele and criticise the tweet on the basis that the singer did not seem to outwardly express any ill-will towards the trans community.
Author Jane Harris said of the social media reaction: “2022. The year in which the cult of gender has taken such a hold that when the winner of the Brits says—’I really love being a woman and being a female artist’—she is castigated.
“She’ll now be pressurised to apologise. Are you getting it yet?”
Artist Birdy Rose, who has spoken out against trans women competing against cisgender women in sports, wrote: “The best thing about the Adele situation is that it shows that all any woman has to do to be called a ‘terf’ is acknowledge her own sex.
“It exposes how low the bar is & how high the cost is for a woman who speaks the truth without first considering if deranged men are OK with it.”
Feminist and childbirth author Milli Hill, who has faced backlash for own comments on the trans community in the past, added: “Hopefully anyone who had any doubt that we are in the grip of a harmful ideology will have their eyes fully opened by seeing how controversial it has become for a woman to say, ‘I love being a woman’”.
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However, some people pointed out that there weren’t many tweets accusing Adele of being anti-trans, suggesting that others were using controversy for their own gain.
Andrew_b72 wrote: “Seeing people like Milli using the words of Adele, who has shown time and time again her support for the LGBTQ+ community, just shows they will use anything they can as a weapon in their attack on trans people.”
While Sazmeister88 agreed: “Adele’s been away from the UK too long if she thinks she can say she loves being female and the terfs won’t take that as some twisted victory in their hate campaign against trans women.”
In November last year the organisers of the BRIT Awards announced that they would be ditching gendered categories for the first time in almost 45 years, as the old model was exclusionary to non-binary artists.
“The BRITs have committed to making the show more inclusive,” the organisers wrote in a shared Twitter statement at the time.
Last night, Adele walked away with the most awards, winning Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Mastercard Album of the Year.
The star also took to the stage for a spell-binding performance of I Drink Wine, taken from her fourth album, 30.
Express.co.uk have contacted Adele for comment.
