Sam Smith
Sam Smith is seen at the BRIT Awards in London in February. Reuters

Sam Smith won’t let an injury affect his sense of humor. The singer won the 2015 Billboard Music Award for Top Male Artist on Sunday. While he couldn’t attend the ceremony, he did send along a message for fans.

Celine Dion announced his category and provided the audience with a little bit of an explanation for his absence. “As you know, Sam Smith couldn’t be here tonight. He’s in New York recovering from vocal surgery,” Dion said. “Let’s go, Sam! You can do this.”

The “Stay With Me” singer has been keeping fans updated on his condition on social media by posting selfies from the hospital along with notes about his planned surgeries. Smith had to cancel his performance at the Billboard Music Awards in addition to several tour dates due to a hemmorage on his vocal chords.

When it came time for Smith to give his speech, a video of him holding large cue cards was shown. He thanks Billboard and his fans. “Thank you to my amazing fans,” he wrote. “It’s times like these that I realize how lucky I am to have you in my life.”

“Can’t wait to get this surgery out of the way so I can sing my a-- off for you again,” he added.

Then Smith had a little fun with his celebrity friends. He had messages for Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj and Ed Sheeran. Most of his jokes were quite appropriate for the Las Vegas awards show.

“Taylor … put a 100 on black for me,” he wrote.

“Nicki …. oh … my … god … look at her bum,” Smith wrote in a reference to Minaj’s “Anaconda” song.

The “Leave Your Lover” singer ended with a joke to Sheeran: “And Ed … I’ve organized a special dance for you at Chippendales.”

Watch his speech below:

For information on the Billboard Awards live stream click HERE. For a full list of 2015 nominees click HERE.

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