An ITV spokesman said:

"The BRITs is a live event. Unfortunately the programme was over running and we had to move on. We would like to apologise to Adele for the interruption."

A BRITs spokesman followed ITV's statement: "We regret this happened and we send our deepest apologies to Adele that her big moment was cut short this evening due to the live show over-running. We don't want this to undermine her incredible achievement in winning our night's biggest award. It tops off what's been an incredible year for her."