Piers Morgan blames trans people for Brit Awards nominations while missing the glaringly obvious
Piers Morgan attends the 2019 British Academy Britannia Awards. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Piers Morgan used his finite time on this hurtling planet to blame the “trans lobby” for fewer women scooping Brit Awards nominations in categories open to men and women.
This is despite the fact that your local trans person, in between buying groceries, chugging their morning coffee and trying not to be a victim of anti-trans violence amid rocketing hate crime rates, often does not have the time to rig award ceremonies.
However, those who do decide nominations – the Brit voting academy – may have slightly more influence in this area. As well as how the selection criteria is operated by the Brits itself.
Moreover, no openly trans musicians have been nominated on their own. Only non-binary singer Sam Smith made the cut, with their collaborative song, “Dancing With a Stranger” featuring American artist Normani, being nominated for best single, according to the BBC.
Clearly, the trans lobby proved too powerful by nominating no openly trans musicians.
Morgan’s fury came after just four of 25 nominations in the categories open to men and women were given to three female artists, Sky News reported.
The 2020 shortlist was branded a “disgrace” by critics after the nominee list in both album of the year and group of the year included all males.
What did Piers Morgan say?
The Good Morning Britain host took to Twitter to grill the Brits.
”Exactly what I said would happen,” the 54-year-old wrote Tuesday, “if they made awards gender-neutral.
”Women’s rights damaged once again to appease the trans lobby.
Exactly what I said would happen if they made awards gender neutral.
Women's rights damaged once again to appease the trans lobby. Why? https://t.co/GcSoFa8jH8
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 18, 2020
“Why?”
The proposed move towards gender-neutral categories at the Brit Awards came after Smith opened up as non-binary. Having stacked multiple awards in the past, conversations were raised around making the ceremony categories more trans, non-binary and gender nonconforming-inclusive.
But the Brits are one of the few major award ceremonies in the music industry that still has gendered categories – such as best male and best female artist.
The Grammy Awards abolished its gendered categories in 2012, while the MTV Video Music Awards ditched segregated male and female categories in 2017.
However, watching award ceremonies plunge into controversy each year is a way of life in the modern world.
Both the Grammy and Oscars — the most prestigious awards ceremonies in the US for music and film respectively — were dragged by viewers and attendants alike for being too white, male, heterosexual and cisgender this year.
Which women won in the Brit award categories?
The four categories open to both men and women include: Best group, song of the year, album of the year and best new artist.
Of 25 nominee spots, only four are women.
(Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
There were two for British singer Mabel, who is up for both best new artist and song of the year, and one each for Normani and Miley Cyrus for their best song collaborations.
Nominations for the Brits start from a list of eligible artists, bands, albums and singles compiled by the Official Charts Company.
The Brit Awards voting academy, consisting of around 1,000 members of the music industry, then decide who to nominate.
So, wait, how do the Brit Awards nominations work then?
The Guardian music editor Ben Beaumont-Thomas, who’s a voting member of the Brits academy, told Sky News: “I think it’s an absolute disgrace that there’s so few women on this year’s shortlist.
“It really behoves the Brits to broaden its eligibility criteria, to bring in more women to be able to be nominated in the first place.
“As it stands, as a member of the Brits voting academy, I could only pick from 26 different women for the female artist of the year, whereas I could pick from 84 different men for the male equivalent category – so there’s a huge disparity there.”
