A British rapper screamed 'F--- Boris' and held up a fake severed head of the UK prime minister during a performance

Twitter/AndrewTrendell

British rapper Slowthai holds up a fake plastic head resembling Boris Johnson during his performance at the Mercury Music Awards on Thursday 19th September.

• British rapper Slowthai held up a plastic head resembling Boris Johnson and shouted "F---- Boris" during his performance at the Mercury Awards in London on Thursday night. 
• His energetic performance was broadcast by the BBC as part of the prestigious music awards ceremony, which crowns the best British or Irish album of the past year.
• Following the stunt, the rapper tweeted a link to his online shop selling t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "F--- Boris."
• Slowthai's album "Nothing Great about Britain" was nominated for the award but lost to 21-year-old rapper Dave's album "Psychodrama". 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

British rapper Slowthai held up the severed head of a mannequin resembling UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson whilst shouting "F--- Boris" in the opening scenes of a performance at the prestigious Mercury Music Awards in London Thursday. 

The 24-year-old rapper, whose real name is Tyron Frampton, walked out on stage at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, west London holding the plastic head up to the crowd and proceeded to throw it behind him. 

It was during the performance of his song "Doorman" from the album "Nothing Great About Britain," which was nominated for the Mercury Prize, an annual award for the best British or Irish album of the last year.

After the performance the presenter of the awards ceremony Lauren Laverne said: "Slowthai with his own views there". 

Here is footage of the full performance: 

A video on twitter from NME journalist Andrew Trendell shows the full intro where Slowthai also says "F--- everything, there's nothing great about Britain," in reference to the name of his album.  

The severed head appears to have been a stunt to sell merchandise, and shortly after the performance the rapper tweeted a link to his online shop, where he is selling t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "F--- Boris" for £25 ($31). 

Slowthai lost out on the prize to 21-year-old rapper Dave, who picked up the prestigious prize for his album "Psychodrama." 

In an interview with NME in July, Slowthai was questioned on his negative opinion of Boris Johnson. 

He replied with "Boris Johnson, look at his haircut mate, he's a t---. F--- him."

Read more: Boris Johnson called 'Trumpian' and 'infantile' by EU figure after comparing Brexit to the Hulk smashing out of his chains

The incident mirrored a similar stunt by American comedian Kathy Griffin, who in 2017 was pictured holding a mask of the face of US President Donald Trump, made up to look like a severed head.

Griffin later apologized for her stunt, saying she had gone "way too far."