12 February 2023 , 06:31
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Mo Gilligan has been slammed by viewers of the BRIT Awards over the way he questioned Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock about her parenting.
The 34-year-old comedian hosted the glitzy awards bash for the second year in a row - but fans were left fuming rather than laughing following one of his comments.
Fury was sparked when he turned his attention to 31-year-old Leigh-Anne who was at the event to hand out the British Group award - which was won by the band Wet Leg.
Leigh-Anne and her footballer fiancé Andre Gray, 31, are proud parents to twins who were born in August 2021 - but the star was attending the event clearly without the babies.
Mo Gilligan sparked anger with his comments at the BRIT Awards (Getty Images)
He was panned for grilling Leigh-Anne Pinnock about her family life (Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment)Mo asked the singer: "Who is babysitting tonight, because tomorrow's Sunday? Are you going out? Having it large?"
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However, his comment sparked accusations of misogyny and sexism - with many viewers taking to social media to blast the comedian and defend the Little Mix star.
One unimpressed viewer tweeted: “mo asking leigh anne who's looking after the children is literally so annoying when women are constantly reduced to being questioned about motherhood their whole lives. it's not like she was a part of the biggest girlband in the world or anything? #Brits2023.”
Leigh-Anne was at the BRITs to hand out the British Group award (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)Another asked: “Did he ask all the dads as well?”
A further fan echoed this sentiment, tweeting: “So, Leigh-Anne Pinnock gets asked who is babysitting her kids, but Stanley Tucci is not asked this. Wonder why. #BRITs."
And a truly incensed viewer tweeted: "Turned on #BRITs to see an atrocious little man asking Ellie Goulding about her breasts, turned off. Turned it on again to find another atrocious man asking Leigh-Anne Pinnock who was looking after the baby. Sexist p***k bingo card looking pretty full."
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It was something of a bad night for Mo as he blundered his way through presenting the 2023 event - getting Lewis Capaldi's name wrong when he introduced the singer to the stage.
Mo mistakingly referred to Lewis as 'Sam Capaldi' - leading the Scottish singer to mock up a photo of himself superimposed on Sam Smith's jaw-dropping red carpet outfit.
And the host also had to contest with technical issues as behind-the-scenes problems forced him to introduced some recycled 2022 footage while present day footage was unavailable.
Elsewhere, a number of award winners may have caused Mo - and broadcaster ITV - some issues when they blurted out swear words while accepting their gongs.
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Best Dance Act winner Becky Hill was among offenders when she said "S**t" during her speech - and later admitted to the Mirror she feared she had fluffed her acceptance speech completely.
She admitted: “I feel like I f**ked it right up.
Becky Hill swore during her BRIT Award acceptance speech (PA)“I want to check Twitter to see what people I’ve never met before’s opinions are on it. It’s a lot.
“I’ve just had one of those days today where nothing was going right and I was sat at the tables and I thought ‘I’ve got this one I’ve got a feeling’ which is weird because I have the best feelings in the world so I don’t know why I doubted them.”