Awards Business News

BRITs announces white rose initiative in support of Time’s Up campaign

By | Published on Thursday 15 February 2018

BRIT Awards 2018

Organisers of next week’s BRIT Awards have announced a formal initiative in support of the Time’s Up movement, the entertainment industry-led campaign that is demanding proactive measures to stop sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace.

The BRITs initiative has been inspired by Voices In Entertainment, which encouraged attendees to this year’s Grammy Awards to wear a white rose to the ceremony to show solidarity with survivors of sexual assault. BRITs organisers will offer artists, presenters and guests a white rose pin which they can choose to wear at the awards bash if they so wish.

The Voices In Entertainment initiative at the Grammys was widely supported and well received. Though, of course, it was somewhat overshadowed by the lack of gender diversity at the awards show itself, both in terms of artists who won and acts who performed. Misguided comments from the old white man who runs the Grammys didn’t help, resulting in widespread calls for a significant overhaul of the big American music industry awards bash.

Grammy bosses gave similarly unhelpful responses to previous criticism about the lack of ethnic and genre diversity in its programme and winner lists. When similar accusations were made against the BRITs a couple of years back, organisers there quickly acknowledged the issue and considered measures to address it, in particular ensuring that the Academy which votes for the awards was much more diverse.

Given that conversations about the lack of gender diversity at the Grammys continue, plenty of people will be looking at how the BRITs perform in that regard. Officially embracing the white rose initiative is another good move, though the event’s line-up and winner lists will no doubt also be dissected.

Commenting on the white rose initiative, the event’s Maggie Crow wrote in a note to members of the BRITs voting academy: “The BRIT Awards with Mastercard will show support to the movement on 21 Feb by providing white rose pins – adopting the symbol for all the same reasons that VIE did – because of its historical importance; representing hope, peace, sympathy and resistance”.

Voices In Entertainment co-founder Meg Harkins welcomed the gesture, commenting: “This is not only an important conversation in the US but all over the world and the BRITs will help focus attention on these ongoing issues”.



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