Jacob Alon held up a Palestinian scarf during Sharon Osbourne’s speech at the 2026 BRIT Awards.
At the awards show in Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena on Saturday night (February 28), Osbourne was on hand alongside her daughter Kelly to accept the Lifetime Achievement prize on behalf of her late husband Ozzy.
During her emotional speech, Alon – who won the BRITs Critics Choice award at the show – held a black-and-white patterned keffiyeh over their head, a Middle Eastern headdress that has been adopted as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity.
Alon has consistently been outspoken on the subject of Palestine, adapting the lyrics to the song ‘Fairy In A Bottle’ to include the words “free Palestine” during their performance at the 2025 Mercury Prize ceremony.
Osbourne, meanwhile, has been a staunch defender of Israel over the years, accusing Kanye West, Jeremy Corbyn and others of anti-Semitism, signing a letter rejecting Israel’s boycott from Eurovision in 2024, and making headlines last year for her furious reaction to Kneecap’s pro-Palestine comments at Coachella.
The Irish rap trio led chants of “Fuck Israel, Free Palestine” at the US festival and accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, prompting Osbourne, who has Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, to call for the band’s US work visas to be revoked and claiming they had “compromised” the festival’s “moral and spiritual integrity”.
She later repeated her criticisms of Kneecap, calling them “pathetic”, “uneducated” and “full of hate”.
Elsewhere at the BRITS, Geese’s Max Bassin used his own speech accepting the Best International Group prize to call for a free Palestine, as well as declaring “fuck ICE”.
Kelly Osbourne stood by her mother’s side at the ceremony, but took to Instagram just hours later to hit out at people criticising her appearance, saying she would not allow herself to be “dehumanized”.
Robbie Williams led an all-star tribute to Ozzy at the BRITs, singing ‘No More Tears’ backed by a band made up of regular Ozzy collaborators Adam Wakeman, Robert Trujillo, Tommy Clufetos and Zakk Wylde.
