Ellie Goulding’s breast plates were centre of Tom Grennan’s controversy at the Brits (Picture: Getty)

Tom Grennan has revealed he had a ‘gut feeling’ that his joke about Ellie Goulding’s breasts at the Brit Awards wouldn’t go down too well. 

The Little Bit Of Love singer was slammed for being ‘inappropriate’ at the awards show earlier in February, when he mentioned Ellie’s corset, which featured a pair of armoured breast plates. 

Before presenting Wet Leg with the best new artist award, Tom, 27, quipped: ‘I love what you’re doing – they’re your real boobs?’ 

Ellie, 36, replied: ‘No, these are not mine. I wish, mine are a lot further apart, sadly. I wish.’ 

Tom’s joke sparked backlash among viewers and he later issued an apology, explaining that it was a joke between he and Ellie backstage that didn’t translate well on-stage. 

Addressing the controversy, he’s now said: ‘Ellie Goulding is a good friend of mine, we had a laugh. You know, there’s no excuse for it, but between us we were like, “Should we say this?” and we were like, “Yeah f*** it we’ll say it” but it didn’t go to plan.’ 

Speaking to the Mail Online, Tom said that he’s already apologised if he ‘offended people’ but that he doesn’t usually make those style of jokes as he’s ‘not a crude person’. 

He continued: ‘But me and Ellie spoke about it before. In my gut feeling I thought, “I don’t know how this is going to be received”, but because we’re mates and Ellie said, “Yeah, why don’t we

say that”. I was like, “Cool!” But my gut [was] right!’ 

Tom received a storm of backlash after a question about Ellie’s breasts (Picture: Getty)

Ellie and Tom are great friends and she’s publicly supported him amid the criticism (Picture: @elliegoulding, Instagram)

Tom added: ‘What I should have said was, “This will be the only time I hold a Brit tonight!” Next time I want to be up there winning one.’ 

Love Me Like You Do singer Ellie didn’t seem to be offended after the incident as, hours later, she shared a photo of her and Tom hugging during the awards ceremony. 

She also defended the singer, branding him a ‘gentleman’. 

In his apology, Tom explained: ‘Love ya @elliegoulding What started as a joke between Ellie and I before we went on stage came out all wrong.

‘The nerves got the better of us, but that does not excuse what was said, and I sincerely apologise to anyone who was offended that’s not me at all, and I am sorry.’

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The singer was slammed for being ‘inappropriate’.