Jack Whitehall returned to host the BRIT Awards 2026 ceremony on Saturday night with viewers divided over his performance
BRIT Awards viewers found themselves expressing identical sentiments mere moments after the programme commenced.
The British music industry’s most prestigious annual event returned to ITV on Saturday evening (February 28) as numerous global pop stars competed for the coveted trophies.
Jack Whitehall returned to present the ceremony, which welcomed several notable personalities in attendance, including Harry Styles, Olivia Dean, Shaun Ryder, Bez and Mark Ronson, who received this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Music award.
Topping the nominations this year are Olivia Dean and Lola Young, each securing five nods, with both artists competing for British Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Act.
International representation came from HUNTR/X, the vocal talents behind the KPop Demon Hunters group, New York performer Sombre and genre-defying Spanish artist Rosalía.
Nevertheless, criticism flooded in within moments regarding Jack Whitehall’s hosting duties. On X, one viewer stated: “Why do they insist on bringing back Jack Whitehall year after year we are tired.”, reports the Daily Star.
Another contributed: “Jack Whitehall is unfunny idiot pls get him off my TV. The first 20 seconds was more than enough.”
A third wrote: “Jack you ain’t funny.” A fourth stated: “Jack Whitehall getting more and more unfunnier with these jabs at Manchester.”
Conversely, other audience members praised Jack’s performance, with one individual commenting: “Jack Whitehall is the best host.” Another person wrote: “Love Jack lol.” A third commented: “Jack and Harry are so iconic, so glad they’re back.”
Earlier this week, Jack was a guest on Capital Breakfast with Jordan North, Chris Stark and Sian Welby to discuss the upcoming BRIT Awards. During the chat, Jack gave a glimpse into the extensive preparation that goes into his jokes for the evening.
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“There’s a few roasts and jokes that are planned at the moment, to be fair none of the script has gone off to the ITV lawyers, I imagine by Saturday 50% of that will get cut. In fact they’ve already started to pre-edit me,” he revealed.
Jack continued: “I got an email forwarded over to me that was from the ITV lawyer that was just all about how litigious Donald Trump is. Just a sort of, which is red rag to a bull for me.”
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