She also performed at the event, opening the ceremony with a Rule Britannia/Espresso mash-up (it sounded a lot better than you might think).
During the act, the singer suggestively crouched down to a backup dancer’s waist with her mic in her hand, while the dancer, dressed as a Beefeater, looked at the camera and winked.
That controversial moment from the famously flirty singer led to some furore online ― as an X user wrote, “she had two minutes and singlehandedly triggered boomers”.
Another wrote: “Ofcom is gonna be getting lots of complaints tonight #BRITs2025.”
Sabrina has since written an Instagram post about the performance, sharing six words in response to criticism online. One X post, for example, suggested she was “oversexualising herself”.
“I now know what watershed is!!!!” she joked in a caption above a picture of her red carpet outfit.
The watershed refers to the time of day when TV programmes which might be unsuitable for children can be broadcast – in the UK, it’s 9pm.
During her Global Success Award acceptance speech at the ceremony, the Espresso singer expressed her love for her British fans.
“The first time I ever came to the UK was 10 years ago with my mum, and nobody knew who I was,” she said, adding that she’s grateful for all her current UK fans.
“In a very primarily tea-drinking culture, you streamed the shit out of Espresso,” she added jokily, before signing off: “Cheerio!”
Speaking of the watershed, Sabrina’s was far from the only controversial moment of the night.
Comedian Danny Dyer was bleeped multiple times.
The Eastenders star introduced a video message from singer and winner of two Brit Awards, Chappell Roan, as the artist couldn’t attend the event in person.
Speaking to The Mirror, a source claimed that Danny’s bleeped comment was about the singer’s absence.
Reportedly, the Eastenders star said: “She couldn’t be f****d to be here.”
