Bruno Mars lights cigarette on stage at Grammy Awards

Bruno Mars has attracted controversy for lighting a cigarette on stage at the Grammy Awards.

The Uptown Funk singer won four gongs at the 2022 Grammys with his band Silk Sonic for their hit Leave The Door Open.

As Mars, 36, took to the stage to accept the Record of the Year award at the MGM Arena in Las Vegas his bandmate Anderson. Paak said: "In the industry, we call that a clean sweep."

Read more: 2022 Grammy highlights: An evening with Joni, Tony, and Silk Sonic

Mars laughed and applauded before taking a cigarette and lighter from his pockets and sparking up inside the arena.

The Grammys were broadcast on live TV in the US by CBS and some viewers were shocked by what they saw.

Smoking is permitted indoors in Las Vegas in bars, clubs and casinos, but not in theatres.

Rebecca Bodenheimer tweeted: "I’m sorry but Bruno f***ing Mars lit up a cigarette during his acceptance speech WTAF??!"

Another Twitter user wrote: "Love me some Bruno Mars all day, erryday but baby why you smoke [sp]"

B Brooks commented: "Couldn’t Bruno Mars wait two minutes to light up?"

Another viewer tweeted: "Bruno Mars just light a cancer stick while on stage at the Grammys [sp]"

And a medical student asked: "How much did the big tobacco companies pay Bruno Mars to light that cigarette on stage at the Grammys?"

But others thought Mars smoking on stage was entertaining.

Rapper Blake Kelly wrote: "@BrunoMars lit that cigarette I started dying #grammys congrats brother !"

WIRED Editor Hemal Jhaveri tweeted: "Cigarettes are bad for you but Bruno Mars can I bum a smoke off you."

Another said: "Shoutout to @BrunoMars reminding everyone that cool people smoke cigarettes."

Leave The Door Open won Record of the Year as well as Song of the Year, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance.

Silk Sonic performed the song at the 2021 Grammy Awards the year before.

It was the third Record Of The Year Grammy win for Mars, having previously been awarded the gong in 2018 for 24K Magic and in 2016 for his global hit Uptown Funk.

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He now ties with Paul Simon as the artist with the second most Record of the Year Grammy awards. Mixing engineer Tom Coyne has the highest number with four.