The BRIT Awards are set to be less ethnically white next year, says chairman, Ged Doherty. Doherty pledges an overhaul for the Brits after widespread criticism of event for ignoring black British artists. The speculated overwhelming whiteness of this year’s Brit Awards will be addressed next year, according to the chairman.
The event had been widely criticised for largely ignoring black British music, with a series of artists, from Lily Allen to Laura Mvula, complaining about the failure to recognise the achievement of black British artists. The Brits controversy generated its own Oscar-copying hashtag, #BritsSoWhite after the Oscars own similar racial dispute.
Doherty has penned an open letter, in which he promises to update the 1,100-strong Brits voting academy and establish an advisory committee featuring “members of the black and minority ethnic music community”. He said he wanted “at least 15% BAME participation [in the Brits voting academy], in line with national [population] trends, as well as being more diverse with regard to age and regionality, so that it can be more truly representative of modern British music”.
#Peace.Love.BritAwards
