825 Complaints and Counting – Watch Sabrina Carpenter Shake Up the BRITs with her raunchy tribute
If you haven’t caught Sabrina Carpenter’s BRIT Awards performance yet, now might be the time—before the pearl-clutching brigade gets their way.
The ceremony, which aired live on ITV, has racked up a whopping 825 complaints to Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, over Sabrina’s sultry opener and Charli XCX’s sheer outfit.
Sabrina kicked off the night with a high-energy medley of Espresso and Bed Chem, making her entrance in a red military-style blazer dress before swapping into a glittering lingerie set. The performance, featuring suggestive choreography and a heart-shaped bed, had some viewers up in arms—mainly over its pre-watershed (aka before 9 p.m.) airtime.
Cue social media chaos. Parents fumed, pearl-clutchers collapsed, and Ofcom’s inbox filled up faster than a pub on a Friday. One particularly incensed dad wrote: “As a dad of 11 and 13-year-old girls, I am fuming that this was the opening scene of #BRITs2025.” Meanwhile, others found the outrage laughable. “Sabrina already getting Ofcom complaints for her BRITs performance is so funny—why does this country hate having fun?”
Sabrina, unbothered as ever, addressed the backlash with a cheeky Instagram caption: “Brits 🇬🇧💋 I now know what watershed is!!!!”
And then there was Charli XCX, who stole the night, winning five awards, including Album of the Year for Brat. But even that wasn’t enough to keep her out of trouble. Accepting Artist of the Year, she quipped: “I heard that ITV were complaining about my nipples. I feel like we’re in the era of ‘free the nipple’ though, right?”
Despite the outcry, Sabrina left the BRITs with the Global Success Award, presented by Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown. Taking the stage, she reflected on her UK journey, recalling her first visit a decade ago: “Nobody knew who I was, maybe ten people. Now, this week, I get to headline the O2 because of you guys.”
As the complaints pile up, the question remains—was it all really that scandalous, or is this just another case of Britain being Britain? Either way, Sabrina and Charli aren’t losing sleep over it.
