Last night saw the Brit Awards roll into town and bring with them a whole lorry load of glitz, glamour and political statements. However, while the star-studded affair was no doubt an A-list affair, it all felt a little bit stale and vanilla. As many people in the UK will know, the Brits used to be famed for its on-edge nature, with Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher sticking the award up his a** being one of the more memorable moments.
But, as times have changed and the world of celebrity has become more diluted, the Brit awards have become a fairly drab affair that is only lit-up by the occasional bit of controversy.
This year, that controversy came courtesy of Stormzy, who delivered one of the most iconic performances in Brit Award history in which he called out the UK Prime Minister Theresa May. In the performance, the 24-year-old asked where the money for the Grenfell Tower victims was and politely told a certain newspaper to "suck my..."
But while Stormzy's performance undoubtedly was the pièce de résistance of an otherwise boring evening, pop star couple Cheryl and Liam Payne did try their best to make the Brits the scandalous and raunchy affair that it once was.
The couple - who are rumoured to be going through a rough patch - arrived at the awards show together and put on a united front. However, Liam looked pretty ruffled when the host for the evening, Jack Whitehall, approached him and began grilling him.
The comedian started off asking:
"Big question. I know it's probably past his bedtime but is the little guy watching at home? Shall we give him a wave just in case?"
Presuming that the Whitehall was referring to their son, Bear Payne, the couple proudly waved at the camera before Jack cracked the joke: "Hi Niall!"
However, while the gag drew a few laughs from the audience, it was the next question that set everyone's chins wagging. Talk quickly moved on to Liam's upcoming performance of his latest track off of the Fifty Shades soundtrack with Rita Ora. Jack cheekily asked:
"You’re performing later, you’re doing a performance from the Fifty Shades movie, it sounds pretty saucy – is there a safe word?"
Liam seemed unnerved by the question and gestured toward Cheryl to answer on his behalf. Taking him up on the offer, the 34-year-old leaned into the mic and said: "Don't stop."
As the loved-up pair giggled about the response, the rest of the world cringed. Twitter went into meltdown, with plenty of people saying that Cheryl clearly doesn't understand the concept of a safe word, given that saying "don't stop" to someone when that's precisely what you want them to do, seem pretty stupid.
While the couple may have appeared very much in love at the awards, according to a source that spoke to the Sun, it's not all good at home.
"Cheryl and Liam’s friends say things are not good between them and have made it clear their relationship will soon end.
"They're trying to work things out and want to be together for Bear’s first birthday which is next month but things are very strained."
While the moment was undoubtedly cringe-worthy, it was made so much better by Este Haim's bizarre performance in the background. Still, Liam and Cheryl should probably work on that safe word, as I can imagine it may lead to a few problems in the future.
