Bruno Mars’ brazen onstage act stuns Grammys viewers

Fresh from winning two Grammys with his R&B supergroup, Bruno Mars’ bold move as he accepted his prize left the audience gobsmacked.

Bruno Mars is facing backlash after lighting up a cigarette onstage as he accepted an award at the Grammy Awards.

The singer, 36, was collecting his Grammy for Record of the Year for his work as part of R&B supergroup Silk Sonic when he made the surprising move.

Mars’ bandmate Anderson .Paak joked that they were “trying to remain humble” as they picked up the trophy – their second of the night, after winning Song of the Year.

“Listen, we are really trying our hardest to remain humble at this point, OK?” .Paak told the crowd. “But in the industry, we call that a clean sweep!”

Mars was smoking as his collaborator accepted the award.

While .Paak spoke, Mars stood beside him, grinning as he lit his cigarette and began to smoke.

It was certainly an unexpected reaction. Picture: Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

.Paak then joked to the crowd: “We’re going to get out of here before the internet starts talking.”

It was an accurate prediction, but he was too late – as social media quickly lit up (sorry) in reaction to Mars.

Bruno Mars just lit a cigarette on the Grammys stage in the middle of accepting an award, can we talk about that instead of Will Smith now?

— illy 🦆 (@artbyiliana) April 4, 2022

Bruno Mars lighting a cigarette during his speech: WTF #GRAMMYs

— Joelle Kool (@joellekool) April 4, 2022

I’ll be thinking about Bruno Mars lighting up a cigarette in a black velvet suit at the Grammys for the rest of time.

— Chelsea Drumel (@cheldrumel) April 4, 2022

Did Bruno Mars really just light up.a cigarette DURING Silk Sonic's acceptance speech?! #GRAMMYs

— Evan D. Ditty (@Evan_Ditty) April 4, 2022

Bruno Mars you are INDOORS put that CIGARETTE AWAY THIS ISN’T 1953 😵‍💫 #GRAMMYs

— bennett 💫 BILLIE ROUND ONE (@bennettalnwood) April 4, 2022

Bruno really just light up a cigarette? 😂😂😂 #GRAMMYs

— Logan Barrett (@loganbarrett96) April 4, 2022

Did I just see Bruno Mars light a cigarette? #GRAMMYs

— Tamara (Tami) Thomas (@tamithomas63) April 4, 2022

It wasn’t the only controversial moment during the ceremony.

Host Trevor Noah opened proceedings with a pointed – and inevitable – reference to the infamous Oscars confrontation.

“We’re going to be singing, we’re going to be dancing, we’re going to be keeping people’s names out of our mouths,” he said, giving the camera a wry smile as he paraphrased Smith’s now-infamous words to Chris Rock last week.

Minutes later, musician Questlove took to the stage to present an award. Questlove was the unfortunate winner of the award Chris Rock had been presenting at the Oscars, and had his big moment thoroughly upstaged by Smith.

He told the Grammys audience: “I’m going to present this award … and I trust you people stay 500ft away from me.”

But the Oscars jokes had actually started even earlier, in a pre-televised portion of the ceremony when comedian Nate Bargatze took to the stage to present an award – wearing an oversized safety helmet.

“They said comedians had to wear these now at award shows, during the joke parts,” he quipped.

Originally published as Bruno Mars’ brazen onstage act stuns Grammys viewers