Noel Gallagher picked up the BRIT Award for Songwriter of the Year last night, but his speech was censored on ITV – see it in full below.
The awards show went down in Gallagher’s hometown of Manchester on Saturday night (February 28), the first time it has been held outside of London in its 47-year history.
As announced before the ceremony, the Oasis guitarist was the winner of the Songwriter of the Year award, which recognises “exceptional songwriting” and has previously been awarded to the likes of Ed Sheeran, Kid Harpoon, RAYE and Charli XCX.
The award was presented by Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie, while a video package included a personal message from Pep Guardiola, the manager of Noel’s beloved Manchester City.
As he took to the stage, Noel said: “Yes Manchester. I’m gonna start by saying, I’ve gotta thank my brother, and Bonehead, Guigsy, Tony McCarroll, Alan White, Gem and Andy – they brought those songs to life. Without them, I’d just be a singer-songwriter, and no-one gives a shit about singer-songwriters.”
“But more importantly, I’d like to thank you, the people, who have kept those songs alive for the last 35 years. Without you, you’ve given us the most extraordinary life, and thank you very much for that.”
Noel concluded by returning to the Manchester theme: “Have a great night. Up the fucking Blues.”
Noel’s brother Liam was not in attendance at the BRITs, but evidently he was watching from afar, as minutes after Noel’s speech, Liam posted on X: “All hail the greatest songwriter this country has ever seen since Lennon n McCartney ps my name is liam x”
All hail the greatest songwriter this country has ever seen since Lennon n McCartney ps my name is liam x
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) February 28, 2026
The BRITs organisers said they had selected Gallagher for the award as he had “permeated the fabric of British culture for over 30 years” with songs that “continue to resonate with audiences around the world like no other”, but some have pointed to the fact that Gallagher has in fact not released any new songs over the past 12 months.
Noel addressed the backlash during an appearance on talkSPORT earlier this month, in which he admitted: “I haven’t written a song for two years. I’m not sure how I’ve got away with that one but I’ll take it.”
“But you know, if anybody’s got a problem with it, meet me there,” he continued. “We’ll have it out on the red carpet. If any of those wet wipes songwriting teams, all 11 of them, want to write a song between the lot of them, want to have it out on the red carpet, I’m there.”
After the huge Oasis reunion tour last year, Noel recently revealed he is back in the studio, although whether this is for an Oasis project or something else is not yet clear.
It was Olivia Dean who ended up dominating the BRITs this year, winning four awards, including Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year. See the full list of winners here.
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