Attendees at the Rolling Stone UK Awards were left in tears of both laughter and crying by Roman Kemp’s speech in honour of his friend Lewis Capaldi.
The glitzy awards night saw Sharon Osbourne accept an award on behalf of her husband Ozzy Osbourne, who is currently unwell and couldn’t travel.
Daniel Kaluuya, Maisie Peters, and The Chemical Brothers all received honours on the night but one speech for an absent recipient stood out.
Roman, 30, was presenting the Game Changer award at the glamorous event on Thursday, November 23, in London, to the Someone You Loved singer.
‘This award is the first of it’s kind and it’s going to someone who I would class as a close friend of mine, a good mate, someone who all of you in this room know probably too well, I’ll give you a little hint,’ the radio DJ began.
He continued: ‘I texted him and I said: “Gotta get this award for you do you want any message to pass on?” and he just said: “Get tae f**k. You do it yourself, freestyle something.” So you know it’s Lewis Capaldi right?’
Lewis, 27, decided to ditch the event as he has been taking some time for his health after revealing his diagnosis of Tourette’s Syndrome last year.
The usually cheeky chappy shocked audiences at Glastonbury 2023 when his performance was derailed resulting in fans rallying around the singer.
Roman, who is the son of singer Martin Kemp, brought up this pivotal moment in the Scottish singer’s career and said it was ‘the hardest thing to watch’.
‘You can see how much he tried to get through that all whilst battling with something that he was going through in his personal life,’ shared Roman.
‘That’s Tourettes. That’s something Lewis lives with every single day and is dealing with part of him, part of who he is.’
Lewis was ‘gutted’ and had a conversation with his friend about stepping back from the spotlight after Glastonbury, which Roman wholeheartedly supported.
‘It was the best thing I ever heard him say, I know that for him that’s a scary thing and I know for a lot of artists in this room have that voice in the back of their head saying this is a lot: “I’m losing touch with who I am”,’ he shared.
Roman has been an incredibly vocal advocate for mental health awareness, even issuing pleas to the government to take action on suicide prevention.
The One Show presenter has revealed in the past his own struggles with depression, as well as discussing the impact of the death of his friend Joe Lyons.
He continued: ‘The mental health thing gets thrown around a lot. Sometimes artists are forgotten about in this.
‘We put these people on this stage, put them in front of thousands, in front of stadiums and we expect them to come off stage and be okay because they’re getting paid loads of money so who cares?
‘But every now and again someone, like Lewis, will come around and say you know what there’s a point where I do need to step back really regroup, see my friends, see my family, focus on who i am and take proper time out.
‘I implore artists to do it and I implore labels to allow artists to do it, to not put that much pressure on them and that is why Lewis Capaldi is a game changer. He is one of those artists that stood up and said that.
‘To be able to say you know what I’m not going to walk out in front of thousands of people, I’m not gonna walk out to adoring fans and people to sing my name every night.
‘I’m gonna go back and I’m gonna look after myself, that my friends is a real f**king rockstar. That’s Lewis Capaldi.’
Well said, Roman!
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