Performing live on stage at the 2018 Brit Awards, Stormzy used his platform for activism as he openly criticized Prime Minister Theresa May.
The South London musician called out May for her lack of action in the Grenfell Tower fire. The fire flamed its way through a 24- story apartment building in June. Horrific videos showed residents and children trapped in the building with no way of escape except to jump. More than 71 people died that night.
In his rap, Stormzy said:
“Yo, Theresa May, where’s the money for Grenfell? What — you thought we forgot about Grenfell? You’re criminals. You’ve got the cheek to call us savages. You should do some jail time. You should pay some damages. We should burn your house down and see if you can manage this."
You can hear the crowd going wild as he spits these lyrics, and the people on Twitter did just the same.
Seeing what Stormzy did last night was powerful. These artists have a platform to speak to young people and they listen. Kids don’t read papers or watch the news. The ball is now in Mrs May’s court, and it has bounced up and hit her massive nose. #BRITs2018
— Rob Davies (@rob_davies) February 22, 2018
@stormzy Tears flowed when I saw this. You have no idea how much this means to bereaved families, survivors, and the affected community who can never forgot – the horror of Grenfell forever etched in our memories. Thank you, thank you #GrenfellNeverForget
#Grenfell
#GrenfellTower— Diane Meyer (@DianeLeeMeyer) February 22, 2018
Congratulations @Stormzy1 for winning your first #BRIT award, and what a powerful performance. #Grenfell
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 22, 2018
A spokesman for May said that 58.9 million pounds ($82 million) have been committed to fixing the Grenfell Tower tragedy. In a statement to Reuters News he said:
"I think the PM has been very clear that Grenfell was an unimaginable tragedy that should never have happened and should never be allowed to happen, again. She's determined that the public inquiry will discover not just what went wrong but why the voices of the people of Grenfell had been ignored over so many years."
