CMAT has shared her “deep sadness” over being subjected to body-shaming abuse online this week, following a performance at Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2026.
The Irish artist played the main stage at this year’s event in Sunderland last Sunday (May 24), in support of her acclaimed 2025 album ‘Euro-Country’.
In a lengthy post on Instagram last night (Thursday April 28), CMAT said she had “felt compelled to wade in and speak for myself” after finding out about some derogatory remarks related to images of her from the event.
“It is literally so boring for me, a gorgeous genius, to keep having to yap on about how horribly I am treated because of my body,” she wrote. “I would love to stop but I cannot because it keeps happening, at an accelerating and worsening pace as I become more famous.
“There is no relief from this – nobody can protect me or save me from this, and all that is demanded of me is more and more work as every environment I am placed in becomes more hostile.”
CMAT continued: “I also want to point out, to some very well-meaning people, that I am not being defiant. I am not choosing to look like this or weigh this much as some kind of punk rock act of liberty. I simply have a body, one that I would of course like to change in order to fit in and avoid all of this abuse, but I have had extreme difficulty in doing so.
“I don’t get a say in whether or not I want to be brave, I simply have to sit here and take it.”
The singer-songwriter went on to say that she was “very, very happy and grateful every day to have the job that I have”, regardless of the abusive comments.
“The feeling of seeing all your dreams come true after so many years of constant grinding towards them….. chef’s kiss,” she wrote. “But the success is increasingly becoming tarnished by the fact that I would be allowed to enjoy it so much more if I was thin.”
She signed off with “deep sadness”, before concluding: “PS it’s time to start throwing pints in men’s faces again !!!! Bring it back for summer 26.”
Earlier in the post, CMAT told her followers of the “difficult” few days she’d had following her Radio 1’s Big Weekend slot. She also revealed that social media apps like Instagram, TikTok and Twitter had been “deleted from [her] phone for some time now” to protect her mental health.
CMAT attached screenshots from an essay on Substack from a blog called Front Row Feels, which she said “summed up a lot of what is causing [her] deep sadness”.
CMAT live at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
A segment of the piece in question reads: “One of the most poignant moments of the [Radio 1’s Big Weekend] set came during ‘Take A Sexy Picture Of Me’. Before performing it, CMAT once again spoke openly about why she wrote the song: the horrific abuse she received about her appearance following her previous Big Weekend performance several years ago in Luton.
“The backlash became so severe that the BBC eventually disabled comments under clips from the set.”
“Yet here she was again, returning to the exact same festival with the exact same body, the exact same energy and the exact same refusal to make herself smaller or more digestible for public comfort. The crowd screamed every word back at her. It felt emotional to witness what was, in many ways, a full-circle moment.”
In response to the BBC disabling the comments due to body-shaming in 2024, CMAT wrote: “I didn’t realise it was ILLEGAL to have a HUGE ASS !!!! I am GUILTY as CHARGED it is time to lock me up and throw away THE KEY!!!!! By the way I am an award-winning songwriter that has released two albums which were received to ‘universal acclaim’.”
Upon releasing the aforementioned ‘Take A Sexy Picture Of Me’ last year, CMAT explained that it was “calling out anyone who criticised my weight or how I looked… and it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever made”.
She explained: “With the internet, every woman is now in the public eye. And no matter who you are, or what you look like, somebody will take umbrage with the fact that you even exist, and there’s no escaping it. ‘Take a Sexy Picture of Me’ was born out of that, because I held back for so long; not out of frustration or sadness for myself, because I AM in the public eye, but I realised it’s actually like this for every woman.”
Last week, CMAT took home the Best Album award for ‘Euro-Country’ at the Ivors 2026. The record was also shortlisted for the 2025 Mercury Prize, and landed at Number Four on NME‘s best albums of the year list.
‘Take A Sexy Picture Of Me’ came in at Number Three in our 50 best songs of 2025 list. “Sick of social media gremlins leaving negative comments about her appearance, the singer has reclaimed the narrative with her biggest hit to date,” the entry read.
In February, CMAT was nominated for Best International Artist at the BRIT Awards 2026.
Since releasing ‘Euro-Country’, CMAT has been playing some of her “biggest shows ever” and brought Harry Hill on stage in London. Tomorrow (Saturday May 30), she’ll play a huge headline gig at Dublin’s St Anne’s Park.
This summer, CMAT will make appearances at numerous festivals including TRNSMT, Mad Cool and Bilbao BBK Live.
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