February 22, 2012 8:03

ITV and Brit Awards apologise for interrupting Adele's acceptance speech

Tottenham singer flipped middle finger after being interrupted at the podium

Photo: PA

ITV and the Brit Awards have apologised to Adele for cutting her speech short when she won the Mastercard British Album Of The Year gong at last night's ceremony (February 21).

The Tottenham soul singer had flipped her middle finger after host James Corden interrupted her stint at the winner's podium in order to allow Blur to start their show-closing set.

Corden subsequently said he was "upset" that he had been forced to interrupt the '21' songstress, while Adele has commented on the controversy to confirm that her gesture was aimed at "the suits, not the fans". To see footage of the incident, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click.

ITV have now released a statement commenting on the fiasco, which reads: "The Brits is a live event. Unfortunately the programme was over running and we had to move on. We would like to apologise to Adele for the interruption."

A spokesman for The Brit Awards, meanwhile, said:

We regret this happened and we send our deepest apologies to Adele that her big moment was cut short this evening due to the live show over-running. We don't want this to undermine her incredible achievement in winning our night's biggest award. It tops off what's been an incredible year for her.

The incident came at the end of a triumphant night for Adele, who also scooped the British Solo Female Artist gong and made her live return with a performance of 'Rolling In The Deep'.

Ed Sheeran was the other big winner on the night, walking away with British Breakthrough Act and British Male Solo Artist. Coldplay picked up the British Group gong after opening the show with a performance of 'Charlie Brown'. Their frontman Chris Martin later joined Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds on piano as they played 'AKA… What A Life!'.

Other performers on the night included Florence And The Machine, who played 'No Light, No Light', Rihanna and Bruno Mars, while there were also video tributes to Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston.

The full list of winners was as follows:

British Female Solo Artist
Adele

International Male Solo Artist
Bruno Mars

British Single
One Direction - 'What Makes You Beautiful'

International Female Solo Artist
Rihanna

British Male Solo Artist
Ed Sheeran

British Group
Coldplay

International Group
Foo Fighters

British Breakthrough Act
Ed Sheeran

International Breakthrough Act
Lana Del Rey

Mastercard British Album Of The Year
Adele - '21'

Critics' Choice Award
Emeli Sande

British Producer
Paul Epworth

Outstanding Contribution To Music
Blur

Video: NME At The Brit Awards 2012

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