Dua Lipa had a powerful message for Boris Johnson at the Brit Awards tonight. While accepting her award for Best Female Solo Artist, the 25-year-old Physical singer called out the government’s treatment of key workers over the past year.
In March, the government offered British NHS workers a 1% pay rise which received widespread criticism for being insufficient, after a year of risking their lives to keep us safe amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is sick, wow, thank you so much,” Dua started. “It’s such an honour to be here. it’s such an honour to be back on this stage.
“Last time I was up here accepting this award in 2018 I said I wanted to see more women on these stages. I feel so proud that, three years later, we’re seeing that happen, and it really is such an honour to be part of this wave of women in music.”
“I think this is such an incredible initiative to give part of your award to someone, and I’ve chosen that my ‘Best British Female of the Year’ is Dame Elizabeth Anionwu. She has spent her stellar nursing career fighting racial injustice. She has also spent so much time and is a strong, strong advocate for protecting frontline workers.
“She has also said that there is a massive disparity between gratitude and respect for frontline workers. Because it’s very good to clap for them, but we need to pay them.
So, I think what we should do is that we should all give a massive, massive round of applause – and give Boris a message: that we all support a fair support for our frontline.”
Tell them, Dua.
Around 2,500 frontline workers won ballot tickets to attend this year’s Brit Awards – which took London’s O2 Arena to about a fifth of its capacity at 4,000 attendees – as a thanks for their work over the course of the pandemic, and arrived backstage to the ceremony dressed head-to-toe in royal blue.