Ellie Goulding Shades Recording Academy CEO's "Step Up" Comment

Ellie Goulding is not here for Recording Academy President and Chief Executive Officer Neil Portnow's comments about women needing to "step up," which has already received much backlash. During this year's BRIT Awards, Ellie threw some subtle shade in reference to the comment while presenting the award for International Female.

Before announcing all of the nominees with Adwoa Aboah, and finally the winner (which was Lorde), the 31-year-old stood on stage where she made a short speech about women, proclaiming how proud she is to be a woman, while holding a white rose.

Many celebs wore white roses at the BRIT Awards this year, similar to how they did at the Grammys. Ellie Goulding said:

"It's so amazing to see so many women tonight wearing the rose. We're very proud to be women. And actually, I think we can all agree that we've been stepping up for years."

The emphasis on "stepping up." 

Just last month, after #GrammysSoMale trended -- due to lack of female winners -- following the Grammys, Neil Portnow responded to backlash around the hashtag saying, "It has to begin with... women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level," he said. "[They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome."

Many female artists and celebrities alike immediately expressed their feelings on Portnow's comment, including P!NK, Sheryl Crow, and more.

After Ellie's "step up" shade, her fans took to Twitter to applaud her for saying something. Take a look at the reactions below.

Photo: Getty Images