BABYMETAL Wins At ‘Kerrang! Awards 2016’ — Benji Webbe Of Skindred Gives Them ‘Kanye West’ Treatment During Acceptance Speech

The Kerrang! Awards 2016 were held on Thursday, June 9. Given the tagline of celebrating its 35th birthday, it was surely a night to remember. Everyone over the course of three generations of rock, including Iron Maiden, Deftones, Blink-182, A Day To Remember, Thin Lizzy, and many more, celebrated. All who have been mentioned won an award at the show as they went on stage to receive their K-shaped awards. According to the official website of Kerrang!, Deftones won the Lifetime Achievement Award, Iron Maiden won Kerrang! Legend, Thin Lizzy won Kerrang! Hero, Blink-182 won The Icon Award, and A Day To Remember won Best International Band.

There were of course more winners than the ones mentioned above. One band that has been getting a lot of attention among the rock and metal communities for the past two years won, and that was BABYMETAL. Consisting of three members, Su-metal, Yuimetal, and Moametal, along with the Kami Band, BABYMETAL took the world by storm after they signed on with a major label back in 2014. Now they have a dedicated following among rock idols and fans alike. Veteran shock-rocker Rob Zombie has defended BABYMETAL against elitist trolls who think their narrow view of metal is what metal is. American fans have showed how much they love BABYMETAL by selling out almost all their American venues on their present tour.

At the Kerrang! Awards 2016, BABYMETAL won the award for Best Live Band. It was a moment to remember as they have worked over five years, since debuting back in 2010, to get to where they are now. Sadly, their moment was ruined when Benji Webbe, the presenter of the award, took a page out of Kanye West’s playbook and interrupted BABYMETAL several times during their acceptance speech.

While all three members of BABYMETAL were standing on stage, holding their K-shaped award with bright smiles on their faces, Su-Metal — the oldest member of the trio — did her best during her acceptance speech. It was apparent that English was a second language for Su-Metal as it was broken, yet people could still understand what she was saying (as proven during their interview with the Fine Bros.). Despite this, Benji Webbe interrupted Su-Metal a number of times during her speech. In the beginning, it could have come off as Webbe trying to “assist” Su-Metal, but that was no longer a valid scenario as he continued to cut a number times which includes him asking Su-Metal if “they were f*****g around.”

Many rock fans found Benji Webbe’s multiple interruptions of Su-Metal’s acceptance speech on behalf of BABYMETAL disrespectful. Webbe took to his official Twitter account to apologize for his actions.

People like I said I'm not into being horrible to anyone to all the fans and BABYMETAL from my heat I'm sorry if I offended u all

— Benji Webbe (@Benjiwebbe) June 10, 2016

If we are to take Benji Webbe’s apology as is, then it was just a lapse of judgment on his behalf for what he did to BABYMETAL at the Kerrang! Awards 2016. Yet, it is saddening that such an incident would involve a well-known prominent figure who was part of the rock explosion during the mid-90s. He is the lead vocalist and synthesizer for Skindred, a reggae/nu metal band, known for their hits “Nobody” and “Pressure.” He is also the lead singer for Dub War and Mass Mental.

At this moment, BABYMETAL seems to be ignoring the situation surrounding Benji Webbe. Either that or they are too busy meeting other rock and metal acts, such as Rammstein and Bring Me The Horizon. Also, their hit song “Karate” was one of the featured songs for NXT TakeOver: The End, specifically for Asuka (better known as Kana in Japan), an extremely popular Japanese female wrestler.

[Photo by Danny E. Martindale/Getty Images]