Kanye West's BRIT Awards performance caused a stir for TV viewers as he could be heard rapping the N-word, despite half of his song being muted.

Despite this, people heard the expletive a number of times and former 'Coronation Street' star Charlie Condou was among those to point out on Twitter that the auto-muting was slightly inaccurate.

He tweeted: "I love that they keep muting the sound, yet keep missing the N word #Kanye (sic)"

martinlukebrown wrote: "Hahahaha no-one's even gonna hear half of this song. Just an occasional N word #kanye (sic)"

DeliActon wrote: "Think you guys bleeped out the wrong word there guys.. Kanye dropped the N-Bomb #BRITAwards (sic)"

Kanye's rapping was replaced by the sound of audience chatter during parts deemed too offensive to be broadcast, despite his performance airing after the 9pm watershed.

An ITV spokesperson said in a statement: “ITV took the decision to use an audio mute during the performance.

“The BRITs is broadcast live on ITV from 8pm to a wide audience.

“We have operated a short time delay as standard practice for some years on the show, to allow us to mute language that may be inappropriate for that wide audience, and elected to do so in this case, given the performance took place shortly after the 9pm watershed."

Some of the lyrics in the song include: "Ye in the building like a hallway, n*****; Big in the game like an arcade, n*****; I jump in the whip, Audi R8, n*****; Still got the 100 with the small face, n*****."

Despite using offensive language, the rapper did still manage to wow the crowd with some special effects thanks to a huge fire cannon which stood alongside him on stage.

He also performed with British grime artists Skepta, Krept and Konan, Jammer and Novelist, and was surrounded by several backing dancers wearing hooded tops.

Kanye's performance - which was confirmed just yesterday morning - was introduced by his wife, Kim Kardashian West, who presented the Global Success prize to Sam Smith shortly beforehand.

Earlier in the day, Kanye shocked fans when he turned up at a Nando's restaurant in the O2 complex and stood on the table before taking selfies with fans inside the chicken chain.

Nando's later tweeted a picture of the star on one of their tables and added the comical caption: "So, it turns out Kanye is much taller in real life... #NandosO2 (sic)"