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Jack Whitehall criticised for 'raunchy' Little Mix BRITs joke

Comedian Jack Whitehall is known for his outrageous sense of humour, but has he gone one step too far at this year's BRITs?

Serving as the music awards host, Whitehall branded Little Mix's live act as 'raunchy' and joked that dads watching at home nationwide would be grasping for their sofa's cushions following the girl group's performance:

"Dads up and down the country awkwardly fumbling for a scatter cushion right now," he said.

Receiving a lukewarm chuckle from the audience at the O2, many users took to Twitter to accuse the comedian of crossing the line with the gag.

Many wrote that the joke was sexist, while others said he was demonstrating double standards, as he encouraged and talked to male performers about sex, including Shawn Mendes.

Little Mix, who won X Factor back in 2011 and have gone on to sell 45 million records worldwide, were overwhelmingly praised for their BRITs performance of their hit song 'Woman Like Me' with rapper Ms Banks.

In fact, several viewers were so impressed with their routine that they claimed the BRITs didn't deserve their presence or indeed performance.

Rather ironically, Whitehall's 'sexist' joke came after The 1975 singer Matthew 'Matty' Healy, read out a passage against misogyny while accepting the group's win for Best Group.

Healy said: "I just want you to listen to me for one sec... just a couple of sentences.

"A friend of ours, Laura Snapes, said, this and I just thought that we should think about it.

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"She said, 'In music, male misogynist acts are examined for nuance and defended as traits for difficult artists, whilst women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don't understand art'."

Some of his fans interpreted his words as his way of recognising that Little Mix, who have outsold the rock group by millions of records, deserved to win the award.

While others linked the quote to the irony of Whitehall's follow-up 'cushions' joke.

The girl band, who have been notoriously snubbed in past BRITs ceremonies, lost out on Best British Group to The 1975, but they went on to take home the Best British Video of the Year.

Whitehall had also joked about the group earlier that evening, taking a brutal swipe at Simon Cowell in the process.

Little Mix split from their long-term manager and mentor Simon Cowell back in November of last year, with Little Mix claiming they wanted more artistic freedom over their work.

And Whitehall couldn't help but make reference to the fallout as well as Cowell's alleged recent cosmetic surgery at this year's BRITs. The stand-up comedian joked:

"Yes... Simon Cowell will be asking his surgeon to put brave face on him if they win big tonight."

Their performance of course came after Hugh Jackman's show-stopping tribute to his hit movie The Greatest Showman. The 50-year-old actor and performer opened the show with a medley of the 2017's film's hits.

- This article first appeared on Yahoo

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