Do we like Stormzy?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A decent record of putting money and time into other people, held back by old slurs he has apologised for and a McDonald's row that split fans.
Stormzy is a grime star who has built #Merky into a whole brand, and by 2026 it includes a film arm, #Merky Films, which launched with the short film Big Man, his first lead acting role. The new single '24 Hours' with ODEAL reworks an older Egypt track with a club sound. So he is back in the game after a quiet couple of years.
The ugly bit first. In 2017 PinkNews reported that he had posted homophobic slurs on Twitter between 2011 and 2014. He apologised within a day, calling the comments “unacceptable and disgusting, full stop,” and saying his younger self doesn't reflect who he is today.
That old stuff came back in 2019 when LGBT+ Conservatives shared the slurs to defend Boris Johnson's anti-gay remarks. PinkNews reported the stunt backfired, with Stormzy pointing to his own apology and calling out Johnson for not offering one. We found no new anti-LGBTQ+ words or acts from him since, which is why this is an asterisk and not a fail.
The row that split his own fans was McDonald's. In February 2025 he launched a 'Stormzy meal' just as pro-Palestine activists flooded his Instagram, upset that the chain's Israeli franchisee had given free meals to troops. Stormzy said he didn't hide his Palestine post because of the deal and that his stance had not changed. Where you land depends on whether you see a brand deal as selling out or as just a brand deal.
On the law, the record is thin and minor. In January 2025 Wimbledon Magistrates' Court banned him from driving for nine months and fined him £2,010 after he pleaded guilty to using a phone at the wheel of his Rolls-Royce. The judge called it “dangerous and irresponsible”. Not a good look, but it is a traffic matter, not a pattern of hurting people.
The good stuff is real. His Stormzy Scholarship at Cambridge began in 2018 and grew in 2021, when HSBC UK put in £2 million for 30 more places for Black students. In 2025 the university announced a Doctorate in Law for his philanthropic work.