Jack Whitehall gives the city of Preston a surprising - and rather rude- shout out at the Brits
The Brit Awards 2026 were held last night and the city of Preston - as well as one of its famous residents - got a rather surprising mention.
The world famous awards ceremony was held in Manchester for the first tim yesterday, with comedian Jack Whitehall hosting from Co-op Live in front of a star-studded audience.
The Brit Awards is long renowned for controversy on stage and off and it lived up to its reputation yet again, with swearing, off-colour jokes and political gestures on show, alongside music and fashion.
For Lancastrians at home however, the most shocking moment was likely when the city of Preston got a special shout out!
At one point during the show, host Jack heads down to be with the audience and says to the camera: “Because we're in Manchester, we wanted to mix it up a bit by throwing in some proper old school ravers with the BRIT school kids."
The camera then pans to said BRIT school kids and at the front of them all is a well known face from Preston- Shaun Jackson.
Shaun is better known as the ‘gurning rave guy’, having gone viral in 2014 when he was filmed dancing crazily at the Bounce By The Ounce event at Rumes Bar in Preston.
In the now decade old clip, a wide-eyed Shaun can be seen dancing away whilst he flails his hands around in a chaotic fashion and makes gurning movements with his jaw.
At the Brits last night, the Prestonian replicated these notorious moves whilst the crowd all screamed.
Host Jack then said: “Yeah, there he is! The big man keeping the spirit of the Hacienda alive.
“Don’t look concerned kids, he’s actually the same age as you, he’s just from Preston.”
The exchange drew quite a bit of attention on social media.
One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, called @plinketyplink2 shared the clip online alongside the caption “Never expected this at The Brits hahaha”
That tweet has now had nearly 800k views and could mark Shauns third time going viral - his attendance at Glastonbury Festival in 2022 also created quite the stir.
When a user in the tweet’s replies asks X’s AI bot to identify the man dancing, Grok replies: “That's Shaun Jackson, the viral "Gurning Rave Guy" from old rave clips. He's from Preston, famous for his wild energy and faces—Jack Whitehall even joked about him keeping the Hacienda alive during the show. Absolute legend having the time of his life!”
Another account called @alexpnefc also tweeted “preston catching strays at the brits? #pnefc#Brits2026” whilst @tommytinker1991 humorously wrote “Proud of my hometown”