Last night, Stormzy closed out the 2018 BRIT Awards having picked up two awards.
During his performance, he shared a new freestyle in which he called out Theresa May and the Tory government for their response to the Grenfell Tower disaster.
“Theresa May, where’s the money for Grenfell?” he asked, “What, you thought we just forgot about Grenfell / you criminals / and you 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.”
Since then, Jessica Elgot – a political correspondent for the Guardian has shared the news that Number 10 have responded to his performance by detailing the funds they have committed to the cause. The tweet states: “Number 10 says £58.29m has been committed to Grenfell survivors, rehousing and community.”
According to the Guardian, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said she hasn’t watched the performance and there’s currently no plans to reach out to the south London MC. She’s open to listening to public concerns relating to how the funds will be spent.
The Downing Street said, “The PM has been clear that what happened at Grenfell was an unimaginable tragedy, which should never be allowed to happen again. She is determined the public inquiry will discover not just what went wrong but why the voices of the people of Grenfell had been ignored for so many years.”
“If there are any concerns being raised about that, we will of course look at those,” the spokesman said. “Wherever there is more that can be done, we will look at that too.”
NEW: In response to @Stormzy1 #BRITs2018 comments, Number 10 says £58.29m has been committed to Grenfell survivors, rehousing and community. If there are concerns about distributing of funds, govt will listen, spox says, but has accepted initial response to fire was too slow.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) February 22, 2018
Stormzy picked up BRITs for Best British Male and Best British Album for Gang Signs and Prayer.
Recently, activists used the billboards from Oscar-tipped Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri to communicate the ongoing need for action.
We will update this story as we learn more.
