Angry Craig David Joins The Unhappy Team Following Brits 2016 Awards Row

CRAIG David has hit out at the BRIT Awards – and claimed that the winners are too white as not all genres are celebrated.

On the red carpet at last night’s ceremony Craig said that garage and grime is the genre he started out in that has been completely ignored by the awards, which are meant to recognize British talent.

The Seven Days singer said he hopes that next year the voting system will see changes so more diverse genres could “be seen”. 

He said: “Sometimes some genres of music aren’t represented and this year it happened to be grime. It’s very clear that it hasn’t been.

“But being part of that scene, I know deep down that the grime and garage music and urban music it’s winning in itself.”

The smooth talking star insisted that it wasn’t about the winning, but the validation and appreciation an artist gets from fans.

“When an artist is going out on stage and the crowd is going nuts – that’s what its about. It’s the fans.”

Craig’s comments to The Mirror have sparked debate and the hashtag #BritsSoWhite, an echo of the #OscarsSoWhite, as no black or ethnic artists won a UK award.

 

Adele dominated the ceremony taking home four awards, and the only non-white artists were nominated for international artist categories, which were championed by Justin Bieber, Bjork and Tame Impala.

The only BAME artists nominated were Drake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weekend and Major Lazer, who failed to get any recognition at the ceremony.

Subverting the mainstream music industry after parties, Craig held his own party with Beats by Dre at The 100 Club, where he championed the genre he felt was being ignored by inviting on stage Big Narstie, Kano and grime artist Giggs.

In a statement, the Brit Awards said: “The Brits take the issue of diversity very seriously and have always endeavored to celebrate as broad a range of what’s popular in today’s music as possible.

“There are no individual awards for specific genres however, and since only a small number of Brits are awarded every year, the artists who are honored tend to be those who have achieved the very highest levels of chart success.

“Given the rapidly changing landscape of music consumption, it may now be time to take a fresh look at the metrics around the Brit Awards to ensure they reflect the full range of engagement with recorded music.”

The BRITs are taking measures to make sure the awards are more diverse next year, by appointing a new advisory committee with more BAME members, as well as surveying the 1,000 member Voting Academy to determine their age, ethnicity and gender, which isn’t currently recorded.