British rapper slowthai sparked fury at the Mercury Prize ceremony last night by holding up an effigy of Boris Johnson’s severed head.
The award-nominated artist, who wore a ‘F*** Boris’ T-shirt decorated with lewd images of the Prime Minister, held up the provocative mask on stage at the Eventim Apollo in London.
After stripping to the waist during an energetic act he shouted: ‘F*** Boris Johnson. F*** everything’.
Slowthai was nominated for his album Nothing Great About Britain, which casts a critical eye over life in the modern UK, and was one of the favourites for the Mercury Prize but missed out to London rapper Dave.
British rapper slowthai sparked anger at the Mercury Prize ceremony by holding up an effigy of Boris Johnson ‘s severed head
The BBC live feed cut away from the rapper as he held up the effigy, but the audience responded with rapturous applause as slowthai (who spells his stage name with a lower-case S) left the stage.
But there was anger online with one viewer saying ‘someone’s probably going to end up getting killed because of this move’.
‘This is really dumb, embarrassing and dangerous,’ they said.
Another Twitter user said: ‘I don’t know which cause he thinks this is helping, but the answer is none. Horrible.’
‘Imagine what the reaction would be if Johnson got on a podium for his next speech with a severed head with slowthai’s face on it,’ another asked.
Taking up a similar theme, another said: ‘You can guess what the left would be saying if it was Jeremy Corbyn’s head he was waving about.’
There was anger online at the Boris Johnson stunt with one viewer saying ‘someone’s probably going to end up getting killed because of this move’
Some Twitter users reacted with fury to slowthai’s stunt at the Mercury Prize last night
Further comments called the stunt ‘edgy and tasteless’ and told the rapper to ‘grow up’.
‘Only heard of slowthai because the only way he can get noticed is by holding a decapitated head of the PM. Pathetic,’ another said.
Yet another wrote: ‘That and spitting on the stage before even starting his song all rather unnecessary in my opinion.’
Awards host Lauren Laverne addressed the stunt without comment, saying: ‘slowthai, with his own views there.’
Slowthai was one of 12 artists shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, which was won by London rapper Dave.
After the performance, slowthai, real name Tyron Frampton, took to Twitter to promote a £25 ‘F*** Boris’ T-shirt along with another lewd picture of the Prime Minister.
Slowthai has previously taken aim at Theresa May in his lyrics and urged his followers to target her with the social media hashtag #brexitbandit.
Slowthai (pictured at the ceremony in London last night) was nominated for his album Nothing Great About Britain, which casts a critical eye over life in the modern UK
Among the judges was Stormzy, who raised his own profile by criticising Mrs May during his performance at the Brit Awards in 2018.
Stormzy similarly urged the crowd to join him in a chant of ‘F*** Boris’ at Glastonbury this summer.
Mr Johnson laughed it off by joking that the rapper had actually said ‘Back Boris’ but was let down by the acoustics.
Speaking last month slowthai said his outspoken attitude was inspired by 90s Britpop pioneers Oasis.
He was due to support Liam Gallagher on a UK tour but pulled out last month.
‘Growing up, people always chose between Blur or Oasis,’ the 24-year old explained during an appearance at the Brilliant Sound Experience.
‘But for me it was both. Growing up and being in pubs and on the estate with all the lads, I found this similar to Liam (Gallagher), the way he was.
‘The way I was raised to be. They inspire me by not giving a f*** about who they are, and I think that was the most important thing growing up.’
Raised by a single mother of four on a Northampton council estate, he has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the wake of his extended plays I WISH I KNEW in 2017, and RUNT, released the following year.
Nothing Great About Britain is his debut studio album.
Slowthai’s stunt is reminiscent of U.S. comedian Kathy Griffin’s infamous photo with an effigy of Donald Trump’s bloodied head in 2017 (pictured)
Describing his upbringing last month, he said: ‘I grew up on council estates. Be it like my outlook on life was at one-point s***, Northampton has a lot of people that are great.
‘Everywhere there are people that are great, but no one can act on it because you’re not handed anything on a silver platter.’
At Glastonbury this year he led another ‘f*** Boris’ chant and stripped to his underpants.
The stunt is reminiscent of U.S. comedian Kathy Griffin’s infamous photo with an effigy of Donald Trump’s bloodied head, which made her a Hollywood pariah when it was published in 2017.
She captioned it with a reference to ‘blood coming out of his wherever’ – a play on Trump’s controversial comments about TV host Megyn Kelly.
Griffin initially apologized for the stunt but later revoked that statement and now stands by the photo, insisting it was legitimate free speech.
The two-time Emmy winner claimed she had been under investigation by federal authorities into whether she was a credible threat.
Griffin was dropped from CNN’s New Year’s Eve show and co-host Anderson Cooper said the photo was ‘clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate’.
