Adele was criticized for saying she “loves being a woman” while accepting the first gender-neutral artist of the year award at the 2022 Brits awards on Tuesday.
The new category replaced the separate best female and best male artist categories from previous Brits ward shows. It is unclear what caused the Brits to change the name of the award category and a representative did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Adele took home the awards for best artist, album and song of the year.
“I understand why the name of this award has changed but I really love being a woman and being a female artist. I do!” Adele said while accepting the award.
“I’m really proud of us, I really, really am,” she added.
Adele’s Brit Awards acceptance speech sparked an internet debate.
ADELE SPARKS ENGAGEMENT RUMORS AT THE 2022 BRIT AWARDS
Adele’s speech has social media users criticizing her for being anti-trans and others coming to her defense.
“Please, no, ADELE can’t be a TERF,” one social media user wrote, according to Page Six.
“So…Adele’s a bit terfy then? Good, good,” another user wrote.
The acronym “TERF” stands for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
The singer said she loves “being a woman” while accepting the best artist of the year award Tuesday.
(Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Another social media user defended Adele, and claimed the singer “stands with trans rights.”
“Using this to be transphobic and saying s–t like ‘i stand with adele’ while adele would hate you for being transphobic? she stands with trans rights and if you don’t then you don’t really stand with adele. gtfo,” the user wrote.
Another expressed confusion over the reaction to Adele’s speech.
“It kinda doesn’t matter if Adele recants or not,” the user wrote. “The world has seen the reaction to her words. Most of them are saying….what the actual f–k?”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Some social media users criticized Adele for being transphobic while others came to the musician’s defense.
(Cliff Lipson/CBS via Getty Images)
Adele has not publicly commented on the debate her speech started. Instead, she shared a short thank you note on Twitter following the awards show.
“What a night! Thank you @BRITs, thank you Sally and Tom for being so accommodating,” she wrote. “Thank you to everyone who was there in the crowd, you were so loud and loving! Congratulations to all the other winners and nominees, keep on smashing it!”
Adele’s speech has the “Rolling in the Deep” singer back in the headlines after she postponed her Las Vegas Residency.
