Politics
Jacob Alon Protests Sharon Osbourne Brit Awards Speech With Pro-Palestine Display
Brit Award winner Jacob Alon made a display of solidarity with Palestine during Sharon Osbourne’s speech at this year’s ceremony.
On Saturday night, Jacob attended the 2026 Brits at Manchester’s Co-Op Live arena, after becoming the latest recipient of the coveted Critics’ Choice prize, recognising emerging British talent.
Towards the end of the ceremony, Sharon delivered a speech to honour her late husband Ozzy Osbourne, in commemoration of his posthumous Lifetime Achievement win.
During Sharon’s speech, the Brits’ cameras panned to Jacob in the audience, who was seen holding up a Palestinian keffiyeh at their table.
In recent years, both Sharon and Ozzy had repeatedly made headlines with their vocal pro-Israel stance.
Last year, months before his death, the Black Sabbath frontman and his wife were two of 200 public figures who co-signed an open letter calling for an investigation into supposed anti-Israel bias at the BBC.
Sharon, meanwhile, had previously voiced her belief that the Irish musical group Kneecap should have their US work visas revoked over remarks they made in support of Palestine at the Coachella music festival in 2025.
Jacob is a staunch supporter of Palestine, and as part of their performance at the Mercury Music Prize last year, they sang “Free Palestine” during a rendition of their song Fairy In A Bottle.
Meanwhile, earlier in the ceremony, many Brit Awards viewers voiced their upset on social media when the awards show appeared to censor an acceptance speech made by Geese musician Max Bassin, in which he said: “Free Palestine, fuck ICE, go Geese.”
It was later indicated to HuffPost UK that this censorship was due to Max’s strong language after his pro-Palestine message, rather than his speech’s political content.