Brit Awards slammed for introducing gender neutral category... before only nominating men - ‘One step forward, three steps back!’

Brit Awards slammed for introducing gender neutral category... before only nominating men - ‘One step forward, three steps back!’
Peter Tatchell BRIT awards
George McMillan

By George McMillan


Published: 13/01/2023

- 16:51

The gender neutral category was introduced in place of the best female and best male groups

The Brit Awards has been slammed for introducing a gender neutral category this year but only nominating men.

Last year, the Brits made the decision to move to gender-neutral categories, scrapping their best female and best male groups.


File photo dated 18/10/22 of Wet Leg attends the Mercury Prize 2022 awards show at the Eventim Apollo in London. Harry Styles and indie rock duo Wet Leg have emerged as the frontrunners at this year's Brit Awards after securing four nominations apiece. Former One Direction star Styles capped off a successful 12 months by earning nods for album of the year for Harry's House, song of the year for As It Was, artist of the year and best pop/R&B act. Issue date: Thursday January 12, 2023.
Wet Leg received four nominations
Ian West

Instead, they merged the two into a category called “best artist”.

But this year, the category fails to include a single female nominee.

The nominations were announced this week and consist of Central Cee, Fred again.., George Ezra, Harry Styles and Stormzy.

The number of female artists or all-women groups overall did rise to 20.

Music fans were quick to criticise the selection of artists with Tim Burgess, lead singer for the Charlatans, saying: “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”

He continued: “One step forward, three steps back”.

Pigeon Detectives singer Matt Bowman responded: “100 per cent it definitely needs to be better…but I think we can all celebrate the four nominations that the fab female fronted band Wet Leg received!”

Nominations in other categories include Harry Styles, The 1975, George Ezra, Arctic Monkeys, Nova Twins, Aitch and Dave.

The awards take place in February.

People in the crowd during the Brit Awards 2021 at the O2 Arena, London. Picture date: Tuesday May 11, 2021.
The awards take place in February.
Ian West

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