Adele responded by sticking her middle finger up at the crowd, a gesture broadcast to the ITV1 audience watching at home. She later apologised. Prior to the ceremony, it was Kate Bush who attracted headlines for landing a best female nomination after a lengthy absence from the awards scene. Backstage, Adele said: "I flung the middle finger at the suits, not the fans. Sorry if I offended anyone, but the people in suits offended me. I didn't get to complete my thank you speech. ITV issued a hasty apology, saying in a statement: "The Brits is a live event. Sadly, the programme was over-running and we had to move on. We would like to apologise to Adele for the interruption. Brits organisers also said sorry: "We regret this happened and we send deepest apologies to Adele that her big moment was cut short due to the live show over-running. We don't want this to undermine her incredible achievement in winning her awards. Ed Sheeran thanked his manager for turning him from a "chubby, spotty, ginger teenager" into a Brits winner