CMAT says body-shaming abuse after BBC set caused deep sadness

CMAT has described the body-shaming directed at her after BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend as part of a pattern that becomes more vicious as her profile rises, turning a festival set into another flashpoint for abuse online. The Irish singer-songwriter, whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, said she had been having a “difficult” few days and that the comments had caused her “deep sadness.”

The backlash followed her performance at Stockwood Park in Luton during BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in May 2024, one of the broadcaster’s flagship live music events. After a video of the set drew extensive body-shaming, the BBC disabled comments on the clip. That step addressed the immediate pile-on, but it also underlined how quickly appearance-based abuse can spread once a performance is amplified across a large platform.

For CMAT, the criticism is not an isolated episode. She has already said the reaction to her appearance after the 2024 festival appearance helped inspire Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, a song framed as a response to online abuse and body image pressure. At the time, she pushed back with humour, saying she was simply wearing clothes, a reminder of how female artists are often forced into defending the most ordinary choices of dress and presentation. The pattern is familiar across the attention economy: a high-visibility set is followed by an online verdict on a woman’s body rather than her music.

The latest comments land as CMAT prepares for the biggest Irish headline shows of her career. She and her Very Sexy CMAT Band will play a sold-out St Anne’s Park in Dublin on Saturday, May 30, 2026, before heading to Virgin Media Park in Cork on June 20, 2026. Those dates mark a major step up in scale, but they also sit alongside the same exposure that has made the abuse louder. For CMAT, the commercial rise and the scrutiny are now tied together, showing how success for female artists can bring not only larger crowds, but a larger burden of public judgement.