Adele Trashed For Boasting About 'Being A Woman' While Accepting Gender-Neutral Brit Award
Feb. 9 2022, Published 11:55 a.m. ET
Lately, a new day means a new controversy for Adele.
Shortly after sparking engagement rumors on the red carpet of the 2022 Brit Awards on Tuesday, the singer-songwriter moseyed on into London's O2 Arena, where she nabbed the prize for Artist of the Year – a new category created to do away with separating nominees based on their sex.
Artist of the Year merged the old Best Male and Best Female Artist categories, making it a gender-neutral honor that's arguably harder to win.
Upon accepting the trophy, however, Adele decided to boast about how much she loves being a woman in a speech that many online felt was rooted in transphobia.
"I understand why the name of this award has changed, but I really love being a woman and being a female artist. I do!" proclaimed the performer, eliciting cheers from the audience. "I'm really proud of us. I really, really am."
The backlash on social media was almost instant, as the musician has now been branded a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), which is defined as a feminist who excludes the rights of transgender women from their advocacy of women's rights.
"Please, no, ADELE can't be a TERF," a "staunch feminist" tweeted to his thousands of followers.
"Who'd have thought Adele was a transphobe and would use her platform to call for the destruction of the trans community," remarked another upset Twitter user. "Especially the confused teenagers."
Others lamented that they'd "lost a lot of respect for Adele" and would no longer "spend a cent on her music."
But these aren't the only people who are upset with the Easy On Me hitmaker.
Late last month, the performer abruptly postponed her Weekends With Adele residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada – just one day before her three-month stay was scheduled to begin.
Thousands of fans who had already purchased tickets and/or made accommodations – some of which were even en route to Sin City – went from disappointed to furious when it was revealed that her initial excuse of COVID-19 restrictions was an alleged coverup for the purported truth – that she felt the show was not up to her ridiculously high standards.
"Adele's been crying and couldn't get through a single full rehearsal for the past month," a source linked to the management team at Caesars previously told Page Six. "Just constantly on the phone with Rich [Paul] … loudly shouting and sobbing."
"There are rumblings that there are stresses related to Adele's relationship," added Scott Roeben, a Vegas-based reporter for Casino.org.
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In an apparent effort to combat both negative narratives, the pop star gave her rumored fiancé an uncharacteristic shoutout on Instagram.
"Hiya, so I'm really happy to say that I am performing at the Brits next week!!" she captioned a selfie from last Tuesday. "Anddddd I'll also be popping in to see Graham [Norton] for a chat on the couch while I'm in town too! I'm looking forward to it! Oh, and Rich sends his love."
Days later, the couple was photographed leaving celebrity hotspot Mr. Chow.
