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Entertainment behind the scenes
Lily Allen blasts the BRITs
Lily Allen has been quoted in the media as blasting the BRIT awards – the UK’s high-profile equivalent to the Grammys (think BAFTAs to the main prize the Oscars). The singer won best British solo female artist at the prize ceremony in February at which she also performed. Her website was not coy about the triumph, trumpeting the star on her official website and calling the award “coveted”.
Either Allen’s memory is short or her PR team is not on message, because in an interview that has just been aired as part of Sky Arts’ “In Confidence” series, she is quoted by the Mirror tabloid and Telegraph broadsheet as calling the prize a “non-award” that “means nothing”. ”The Brit Awards is a TV show, and a record company executive makes deals with ITV and the producers about who wins what award in exchange for performance time,” she said. “I got one last week and it just meant absolutely nothing to me, to be honest. It just became a non award.”
The BRIT organisers, somewhat baffled by the timing of Allen’s statement given that the awards took place nearly four months ago, have defended the way the winners are decided. A spokesman said in a statement: “We are sure that Lily will be happy to hear that the voting for her BRIT Award for British Female Solo Artist was scrutinised and approved by the electoral reform society, as are all awards voted for by the BRITs Academy.” The Academy is made up of some 1,000 people from the music business, ranging from journalists to managers to record label executives.
It will be interesting to see how Lily gets on should she be nominated again in 2011.
Lily Allen does NOT condone drug abuse
British popster Lily Allen has issued a statement addressing remarks she made in a magazine interview about illegal drugs which caused a bit of a brouhaha in the media over the last 24 hours.
Speaking to “The Word” ahead of the launch of her n
ew album “It’s Not Me, It’s You”, on the EMI label, she said: “The only story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you. You will become a prostitute or a rapist or a dealer. But that’s not true. I know lots of people that take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work every day, no problem at all.”
