Ofcom confirms number of complaints from Sabrina Carpenter’s racy Brit Awards performance
Some viewers were less than impressed.
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Previous Page Next PageSabrina Carpenter has been hit with hundreds of Ofcom complaints after her Brit Awards performance.
The Please, Please, Please singer, 25, opened the show last Saturday with a raunchy tribute to the UK.
Sabrina took to the stage at The O2 in London wearing a red sparkly military-style blazer dress and walked down an aisle lit up with the Union flag as performers dressed as King’s guard soldiers followed behind.
She then transformed into a red sparkly lingerie set as she performed her song Bed Chem, with sexy moves throughout.
And it clearly proved to be too much for fans, who threatened to ring watchdog Ofcom because they felt the performance shouldn’t have been allowed before the 9pm watershed – which refers to the time of day when TV programmes which might be unsuitable for children can be broadcast.
Ofcom confirmed that 825 complaints had been made, for Sabrina’s performance as well as Charli XCX sending hearts racing with her black see-through dress.
Charli XCX’s see-through outfit also sparked complaints (Picture: REUTERS)Charli dominated the show, winning in five categories including the coveted album of the year for her culture-shaping record Brat.
During her acceptance speech for artist of the year, the 32-year-old addressed concerns, saying: ‘I heard that ITV were complaining about my nipples. I feel like we’re in the era of “free the nipple” though, right?’
Sabrina also responded to the controversy with her typical humour, writing in a recentd Instagram post of photos of the night: ‘I now know what watershed is!!!!’
Sabrina Carpenter’s raunchy performance has fans threatening to call Ofcom (Picture: James Veysey/Shutterstock)Read Metro’s Brit Award 2025 round-up for the action as it happened.
Fans were certainly divided about the performance, taking to X to share their thoughts.
One social media user shared the end of her performance, which saw her suggestively kneel in front of a guard as he winked at the camera and wrote on X: ‘Ofcom is gonna be getting lots of complaints tonight.’
‘As a dad of 11 and 13 year old girls I am fuming that this was the opening scenes of #BRITs2025,’ @Jugyman said.
She opened the show (Picture: Reuters)Hayley added: ‘I should say!! I was thinking of all the young kids watching.’
‘How nasty,’ Lesley said, while Hilary wrote: ‘Sorry not a good idea to open up with before 9pm! It’s still family time, very inappropriate.’
Others rushed to defend the Espresso singer, with Efa writing: ‘Sabrina already getting ofcom complaints for her brits performance is so funny why does this country hate having fun.’
Gigi said: ‘People are threatening to call ofcom after sabrina’s brits performance oh i know this must be amazing.’
Her show was an ode to the UK (Picture: JMEnternational/Getty Images) It was too sexy for some people (Picture: JMEnternational/Getty Images)Rachel wrote: ‘My thoughts and prayers are with the people working at Ofcom right now after Sabrina Carpenter triggered the pathetic Karen’s and the pearls they’re now clutching.’
‘Sabrina Carpenter doing Bed Chem pre-watershed? The ofcom complaints about that performance are gonna be through the roof but I enjoyed it. That’s my girl!’ @minidronalia added.
Sabrina was later crowned winner of the 2025 Brit global success award, receiving it from Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown.
Sabrina took home the global success award (Picture: Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/Getty Images)‘The first time I ever came to the UK was ten years ago with my mum and nobody knew who I was, maybe ten people, but all I kept thinking about was one day how exciting it would feel if anyone in the UK knew my music, and now this week I get to headline the O2 because of you guys,’ she said.
‘And the Brits have given me this award and it feels like such an insane honour in a very primarily tea-drinking country, you guys streamed the s**t out of Espresso,’ she joked.
‘You really understand my dry sense of humour because your sense of humour is so, so dry,’ she went on, saying how much she ‘loves’ her British fans.
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Previous Page Next Page‘Most importantly, I want to thank the fans that have followed me since the begining, the ones that followed me since tonight, I love you so much, this is all because of you and this is for you, thank you so much.
‘Cheerio!’
The 2025 Brit Awards, hosted by Jack Whitehall, also saw performances from Myles Smith, Jade Thirlwall and Teddy Swims, with Charli XCX walking away with numerous awards and Sam Fender and Ezra Collective also taking home wins.
A version of this article was originally published on March 1, 2025.
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