Content warning: this article contains mention of alcoholism.

Stormzy and Lewis Capaldi came under fire on Twitter for promoting an unhealthy drinking culture at the Brit awards. They both gave speeches with bottles in their hands and were noticeably intoxicated during their interviews. This caused much discontent on Twitter, with one particular user tweeting a photo of Capaldi holding a bottle and his award, with the caption, ‘We have an unhealthy relationship with drinking in Scotland. This doesn’t help.’

This conflict across the social media platform creates an important debate, questioning where the responsibility lies when it comes to drinking alcohol. Should the media be responsible for discouraging excessive drinking, or is it the celebrities that should keep their drinking activities away from the cameras?

Tom, a second year physics student, questions whether drinking on TV actually encourages excessive drinking in the first place. He points out that the BRITS are all about celebrating talent and success, and therefore ‘audience members are focussed on appreciating that talent; they are much less interested in what is inside their bottles’.

Perhaps, if the alcohol had influenced the Brit award winners to verbalise or act inappropriately, the criticism on Twitter would be more understandable. There was occasional swearing in their interview with KISS FM UK, but the swearing was not aimed at anyone, nor used with an offensive intention. In fact, Stormzy swore to intensify his love for some of the other artists that attended the BRITS. He also pointed out that, ‘it’s the Brit awards’, which he used to justify his night of fun. If anything, the interviewer seemed calm, collected and entertained.

In light of all of this, it is difficult to view this scrutiny as fair. After the devastating news of Caroline Flack, social media users have become more aware of the impacts that seemingly small comments can have. Despite this, the award winners have still received criticism for having a drink in a celebratory context, after having won their prestigious awards.

Although the comments made were considerably less harmful than those aimed at Caroline Flack, it appears that people will still continue to use social media platforms to interrogate the actions of public figures, whether positive or negative. Fortunately, Lewis Capaldi’s reaction seemed light-hearted. He quote tweeted this aforementioned tweet, responding with ‘imagine having a drink on my first night off in months after winning two Brit awards, can you believe it?!’ This was well received by his followers, who urged him to carry on celebrating in peace.

On the other hand, these condemning comments are likely to have stemmed from personal experiences with alcoholism. In some TV series and films, if a potential triggering scene is shown, there is either a trigger warning, or information provided on where to get help. For instance, the Netflix series ’13 Reasons Why’, has a content warning for scenes of sexual assault, suicide and substance abuse. For people with drinking issues watching the BRITS, such trigger warnings may be beneficial. Alternatively, broadcasters could contextualise this kind of footage by informing viewers that this alcohol use is taking place in a controlled environment.

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