Video will appear as you scroll through the story
Adele · S4 E5
The BRIT Awards Speech
February 2012. Her acceptance speech is cut short by the producers. She gives the camera the middle finger. It becomes the defining image of the night.
February 21, 2012, The O2 Arena, London. Adele is halfway through her Album of the Year acceptance speech at the BRIT Awards when a producer's voice in her earpiece tells her to wrap it up, and she responds by raising her middle finger to the camera on live television.
Adele at the BRIT Awards 2012. The moment that defined the night: her acceptance speech for Album of the Year is cut short by producers rushing to fit in the closing act. Adele's response, a single raised finger aimed at the suits, not the fans, becomes the most talked-about image from any BRIT Awards ceremony in years.
The Performance That Night
Earlier in the evening, Adele performs "Rolling in the Deep" for the BRITs audience, the first time many in the room have seen the song performed live at a major UK ceremony. The arrangement is tighter and more aggressive than the album version, matching the energy of a room that already knows she's going to sweep the awards. The performance is flawless. The speech is better.
The Finger
The show is running over. Blur are waiting backstage for the closing performance. James Corden, hosting, is told through his earpiece to cut Adele's speech short. She's been talking for less than a minute. When the music starts playing her off, she flips the bird directly into the camera and mouths something that ITV's broadcast delay can't quite catch.
“"That middle finger was for the suits at the BRIT Awards, not my fans. I was pissed off that they cut my speech. I'd just won Album of the Year!"”
TAP TO REVEAL: What did the BRIT Awards producers sacrifice Adele's speech for?
How did ITV viewers react to Adele's middle finger at the 2012 BRITs?
Respect, Aretha Franklin
From Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967). The definitive statement of not taking disrespect from anyone, recorded by the Queen of Soul. In the context of a twenty-three-year-old giving the finger to the producers who cut her speech, the connection is direct: Adele learned from the same tradition. You don't silence a voice like that. And if you try, you get exactly what you deserve.
Respect, Aretha Franklin (1967)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Aretha turned Otis Redding's original into a feminist anthem by flipping the perspective. Adele doesn't cover Aretha, but she carries the same energy: a woman who won't be told when to stop talking.
BRIT Awards, 2012
The album keeps selling, the awards keep coming, but the voice is starting to struggle. Next episode: "Set Fire to the Rain" climbs the charts while Adele's vocal cords begin to fail.
0 XP earned this session