Popular singer Adele was bashed for commenting that she "loves being a woman" while receiving the first gender neutral artiste of the year award at the BRIT Awards, which introduced the first gender-neutral award this year.

The new category replaced the individual 'best female' and 'best male' artiste categories from previous shows.

The singer bagged the award for the best artiste, album, and song of the year.

She also stated that despite knowing why the name of the award was changed, she still loves being a woman and a female artiste.

"I'm really proud of being a woman!" she added.

She also faced huge criticism on social media, and netizens addressed her as being 'anti-trans' while her fans came to defend her.