When asked about the magazine's decision to give U2 their 'Best Band In The World' trophy, Braithwaite told playlouder.com: "I despise U2, I really fucking hate them. They're pompous, disgusting and patronizing."
And when asked if he was suprised that NME chose U2, Braithwaite laughed: "No, nothing shocks me anymore, that paper's just got really bad. I think NME has obviously hit an all time low giving U2 any credit at all."
Braithwaite suggested that the decision had probably been made by "the higher powers at IPC rather than the journalists that write for the paper", but that he still found it "pretty embarrassing."
Braithwaite then insisted that the band's 'Beautiful Day' was a "bad rip off" of A-Ha's hit 'Sun Always Shines on TV' and that he found all awards "naff" and "fucking ridiculous".