Sabrina Carpenter's performance and Charli XCX's outfit at the BRIT Awards prompt hundreds of complaints to Ofcom

Sabrina Carpenter's pre-watershed opening performance and Charli XCX's outfit at the 2025 BRIT Awards ceremony prompted several complaints to media watchdog Ofcom. The 45th edition of the BRIT Awards was held on Saturday, March 1, at The O2 Arena in London, and was broadcast live on ITV.

Sabrina Carpenter was honored with the Global Success Award at the ceremony. The prize was originally started in 2013 to recognize British stars who had amassed fame abroad. Previous winners of the award include One Direction (2013-14), Sam Smith (2015), Adele (2016-17) and Ed Sheeran (2018-19).

Sabrina Carpenter also opened the award show with a mash-up of her chart-busters like Espresso, Rule Britannia!, and Bad Chem. The 25-year-old sported a sparkling red military-style dress with matching suspenders and stockings.

As per a report by BBC, she also had an intimate encounter with a dancer dressed as a soldier during her performance, which was broadcast live on ITV.

Sabrina Carpenter at The BRIT Awards 2025 - Show - Source: Getty

Meanwhile, Charli XCX sported a translucent see-through black dress at the ceremony. She won five awards for her sixth studio album, Brat. This included Best Dance Act, Song of the Year for Guess (featuring Billie Eilish), and Songwriter of the Year among others. The songstress also addressed the controversy surrounding her outfit during one of her acceptance speeches on the night, saying:

"I heard that ITV were complaining about my nipples. I feel like we're in the era of 'free the nipple' though, right?"

Charli XCX at The BRIT Awards 2025 - Show - Source: Getty

As per a report from BBC, Ofcom received a total of 825 complaints from the BRIT Awards ceremony, most of which were aimed against Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX.

The report also quoted a spokesperson from Ofcom addressing the abovementioned complaints. He said:

“We are assessing the complaints against our rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”

---

Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX aren't the first two to prompt complaints to Ofcom at the BRIT Awards

Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX (images via Getty)

Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter aren't the first ones to have prompted complaints to Ofcom at the BRIT Awards ceremony. In 2015, Kanye West performed at the ceremony and Ofcom received 151 complaints for offensive language and racial discrimination. Parts of Ye's song, All Day, were muted by ITV and the broadcaster attempted to remove the offensive section of the performance by airing it after a short delay.

Complaints erupted again in 2018 - this time about Kendrick Lamar's performance. The Not Like Us hitmaker was muted ten times while performing New Freezer and Feel. The rapper's performance also included a moment when a man grabbed a baseball bat and attempted to shatter the windscreen of a premium sports car. The act attracted 74 complaints from people who reckoned that it might influence property damage and criminal behavior among people.

The latest complaint before 2025 came in 2020 when Ofcom received 309 complaints about Dave's performance at the ceremony. The rapper performed the song, Black, and was accused of racism against white people by many. However, Ofcom dismissed the complaints, stating that it was "likely to be within most viewers' expectations of this well-established awards ceremony".

---

To this day, the most complaints ever received by Ofcom was in 2021, when Piers Morgan's comments on the Duchess of Sussex on Good Morning Britain prompted 58,000 complaints from across the country. However, Ofcom's verdict was in favor of ITV as it didn't find a breach of broadcasting rules.

In 2007, the reality show, Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 4 received 45,159 complaints. The same show got 25,327 complaints in 2018 when it was broadcast on Channel 5.