'What she said was a bit premature': Brit Awards chairman Jason Iley responds to Paloma Faith's criticism of show

Brit Awards chairman Jason Iley has defended the line-up at this year’s ceremony after Paloma Faith called out the lack of female performers.

The singer made her comments last month when only Dua Lipa was on the bill, but Rita Ora and Jorja Smith had since been added.

The others confirmed are Ed Sheeran, Foo Fighters, Rag’N’Bone Man, Sam Smith and Justin Timberlake.

Iley, who is also chairman of Sony Music UK, told the Standard: “I love Paloma. But what she said was a bit premature. We announce the acts in stages, with some of them closer to the show, to build up the excitement.

“At the time we had announced one female act. Since then we have announced Rita Ora, Dua Lipa and Jorja.

“We also asked Lorde to perform on the show but she couldn't make it work because of touring commitments sadly.”

After the stars at the BAFTAs wore black on Sunday night, celebrities at the BRITs will be wearing white rose pins to support the #MeToo campaign.

Iley says organisers will be leaving it to the winners to make statements on stage if they want to.

He added: “I was at the Grammys where they were supporting the message, and we will be supporting the message too. It’s very important.

“We will leave it to the artists to make any statements they want on stage – the day we start censoring creative artists on stage…”

Another star who will be going out totally uncensorted is presenter Jack Whitehall. Iley said: “We picked him because he is incredibly funny. I’m not going to review his script – we hired him for a reason. I’m not going to say to an artist, ‘You’re not going to do this’. I’m definitely not going to censor what he says.”

Two years ago the BRITs faced accusations of white washing, which prompted the voting committee to be changed to better reflect society.

Iley believes this has worked, with nominations this year for the likes of J Hus, Stormzy, Kendrick Lamar and Drake.

He commented: “We now have an academy that is 48% female and 52% male, a quarter of which is BAME. Before, 70% of the academy were white, older men.

“It’s much more evenly split now. And that is great as grime is one of the most exciting genres of music, and I think J Hus had one of the best albums of last year.”

One noticeable absentee from the nominees list is Sam Smith. Iley added: “Sam Smith I was surprised at. But when we asked him to come onto the show to perform he said yes straight away, and he sent his congratulations to all the other nominees.”

The BRIT Awards take place at The O2 arena tonight and are live on ITV from 8pm.