Cruel internet taunts and lewd dancing ... another tawdry year for the Brits
IT was her first-ever performance at the Brit Awards and it should have been the highlight of Jesy Nelson’s career in pop music.
Instead the singer in girl band Little Mix had to contend with vile online bullies who branded her ‘fat’ and poked fun at her skimpy outfit consisting of a sparkly leotard with strap detailing at the hips.
Social media trolls made unkind comparisons between her and bandmates, Perrie Edwards, 22, Jade Thirlwall, 23, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 24, who were dressed in crop-tops and high-waisted knickers.
Among dozens of nasty posts, someone wrote: ‘It’s getting cruel now. Someone has to tell that fat one in Little Mix she looks ridiculous.’
Another said: ‘Imagine being the fat one in little mix you’d feel so rubbish wouldn’t you.’ It is not the first time Miss
‘Bullying and harassment’
Nelson, 24, has been subjected to jibes about her weight. When she was first finding fame on The X Factor in 2011, she suffered similar attacks.
In the past she has hit back at her critics, saying: ‘I really think those people have just no life whatsoever, to be able to have time in their day to sit there and be nasty about people when you don’t even know them.’
Last night Anastasia de Waal, chairman of charity Family Lives, said: ‘Comments like these are bullying and harassment.
‘People seem to feel like they are behind a mask of anonymity online, so don’t think about the consequences of the comments they are making.’
Wednesday night’s Brits sparked 69 complaints to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom and a further 46 to ITV – 115 in total – with viewers branding much of the content inappropriate. Pop star Rihanna came under fire for her raunchy rendition of new single Work that saw her twerk at the audience, touch herself provocatively and simulate sex with rapper Drake.
One viewer wrote on Twitter: ‘Feel very uncomfortable with Rihanna gyrating on Drake a mere 18 minutes past watershed’.
Adele, who won four awards, swore on stage as she accepted an accolade, forcing flustered hosts Ant and Dec to apologise to the 5.5million viewers.
The most contentious moment, attracting more than half of the complaints, came 20 minutes before the watershed when model Sadie Pinn draped herself over Ant and Dec in a see-through bodysuit, with only stars to cover each breast and a small piece of material to cover her modesty.
Last year Kanye West sparked 126 complaints to the regulator after repeatedly using the word ‘n*****’ in a performance of explicit single All Day. The show is broadcast with a slight time delay allowing for the language to be censored.
Ofcom will assess the latest complaints before deciding whether to investigate. ITV declined to comment.
Sebastian Shakespeare – Pages 40&41