Straying from the traditional thanks when accepting the Best British Group prize, The 1975 frontman asks viewers to 'really really think' about journalist Laura Snapes' words on sexual harassment.
- Feb 21, 2019
AceShowbiz - The 1975 frontman Matt Healy addressed the abuse allegations against Ryan Adams in his BRIT Awards acceptance speech in London on Wednesday night, February 20.
The American singer-songwriter was accused of inflicting emotional and psychological abuse on seven women, including his ex-wife Mandy Moore and a former fiancee, in a New York Times article, published last week, ends February 15.
He has called the article "upsettingly inaccurate", but many in the music industry have turned on him as a result of the allegations, and collecting the Best British Group prize at the U.K. music prizegiving, Healy ditched the traditional thanks to fans, family, and label bosses in favour of quoting words from a comment piece about the Adams drama, written by The Guardian's Laura Snapes.
"I just want you to listen to me for one sec, just a couple of sentences that a friend of ours, Laura Snapes, said this, and I thought we should all really really think about it," he told the audience. "She said that in music, 'male misogynist acts are examined for nuance and examined as traits of difficult artists, while women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don't understand art.' "
Laura, who was live blogging the event for The Guardian, was shocked to be quoted on stage, writing: "I had no idea that was going to happen."
.@The1975 collect the BRIT Award for British Group with an important message. #BRITs
— BRIT Awards (@BRITs) 20 February 2019
Watch The #BRITs 2019 live here: https://t.co/qj4KiENtGspic.twitter.com/z0wntv09jB
In her article she wrote that she was not "surprised" by the allegations made against Ryan, as similar tales are all too common in the music industry.
She claimed efforts are often made to cover-up bad behaviour by male artists, including requests to not mention it in articles, intimidation from managers and acts themselves, and by sidelining female writers who make complaints.
The journalist concluded her piece by writing: "If the allegations (against Ryan) are true, these women - and probably thousands more with similar stories about other men - are the collateral damage of a protectionist industry, whose power brokers operate out of fear of their own irrelevance. It is pathetic."
