Slowthai has issued a public apology to comedian Katherine Ryan following an incident at this year’s NME Awards.
Video footage from the night showed Slowthai walking on stage in the middle of the ceremony, seemingly to speak to host Julie Adenuga, with co-presenter Katherine intervening.
As the rapper got up in Katherine’s face, he repeatedly referred to her as “baby girl”, inviting her to “smell his cologne” and saying into her microphone: “She wants me to tend to her flowers.”
Katherine then dismissively told him: “You are, like, the hottest guy I’ve ever seen… I’m so thirsty for your cock.
“Thank you for the attention. Let’s hear it for him! So hot! I’m so wet I’m going to slip off these stairs any minute.”
In a tweet addressed to NME the following morning, Slowthai asked them to “forward my [Hero Of The Year] award to [Katherine Ryan] for she is the hero of the year”.
Recalling his behaviour the previous night, he wrote: “What started as a joke between us escalated to a point of shameful actions on my part. I want to unreservedly apologise, there is no excuse and I am sorry. I am not a hero. “Katherine, you are a master at your craft and next time I’ll take my seat and leave the comedy to you.
“To any woman or man who saw a reflection of situations they’ve been in in those videos, I am sorry. I promise to do better. Let’s talk here.”
Katherine previously spoke out to, insist that Slowthai hadn’t made her “feel uncomfortable”.
“This is why we need women in positions of power,” she tweeted. “I knew he had lost [the fight] from the moment he opened his mouth like any heckler coming up against a COMIC - not a woman - a COMIC. I was operating 2/10. What a sweet boy. I defused it. Tonight was fun!”
Shortly after the incident involving Katherine, Slowthai was awarded Hero Of The Year, during which a member of the crowd shouted that he was a “misogynist”, apparently referencing the on-stage exchange.
“Thank you for ruining my speech, thank you very much,” Slowthai said back, after which a microphone and a full glass were thrown in the rapper’s direction.
In retaliation, he threw a glass down into the crowd, before launching himself off the stage, at which point security intervened, and Katherine Ryan could be seen on stage attempting to cool the situation down.
NME then reported that Slowthai had been “escorted from the stage” and had “left the NME Awards… following an altercation with the crowd”, but did not specify whether or not it was his choice to leave the venue completely.
Slowthai released his debut album Nothing Great About Britain in 2019, featuring collaborations with Skepta, Mura Masa and the punk band Slaves.
Nothing Great About Britain went on to be nominated for the Mercury Prize, with Slowthai making headlines during the ceremony when he performed holding a dummy of Boris Johnson’s head.
“Fuck Boris Johnson, fuck everything and there ain’t nothing great about Britain,” he shouted during the performance.