Madonna Blames Brits Stairs Tumble On Cloak

Madonna took a nasty tumble down some stairs after a costume malfunction during her first performance at the Brit Awards in 20 years.

Viewers were left shocked when the singer fell backwards and smashed into the stage after a dancer tried to yank off the cloak she was wearing.

The singer fell three steps before getting back on her feet to continue the performance surrounded by dancers dressed as devils.

She took to Instagram soon after the gaffe and explained that the Armani cloak was "tied too tight", but that she was "fine".

"Armani hooked me up! My beautiful cape was tied too tight! But nothing can stop me and love really lifted me up! Thanks for your good wishes! I'm fine! ❤️#livingforlove," she wrote.

Sky's Richard Suchet, who was at the event at the O2 Arena in London, said onlookers winced as the Queen of Pop fell in front of thousands of fans.

Many took to Twitter to show their support after the slip-up as she sang her new single Living For Love.

The track, from the 56-year-old's new album Rebel Heart, ironically contains the lyrics "Lifted me up and watched me stumble" and "Took me to heaven and let me fall down."

Tweeter Louise Houghton wrote: "Big respect to @Madonna @BRITAwards for carrying on so professionally & giving an awesome performance. Please don't slate her."

Melanie Redmond tweeted: "Oh my god. Madonna. That fall. I feel so bad for you but you did sing about stumbling. And you really did more than that, you crash landed."

Another wrote: "I'm sweating with anxiety for the cape puller who will perish in the flames tonight."

Madonna was the last act to perform during the show, hosted by Ant and Dec, which saw Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith walk away with two prizes each.

She was not the only act whose performance did not go as they might have hoped.

Kanye West's song All Day had to be heavily muted by ITV because of repeated uses of the n-word in the lyrics, leaving many watching at home scratching their heads.

One viewer, tweeting as Shukat1, said: "Why have Kanye if you're just gonna censor the performance?"