Morrissey blasts hypocritical Sinead O’Connor tributes

Controversial singer Morrissey is blasting what he suggests are hypocritical tributes in the wake of Sinead O’Connor’s untimely death.

On Wednesday, the former Smiths frontman, who has written about and discussed his relationships with both men and women while never publicly labeling his sexuality, posted a blistering response to the outpouring of appreciations of O’Connor in both the press and on social media since her death earlier this week at the age of 56.

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She was an outspoken human rights activist throughout her career and is survived by three of her children.

“She had only so much ‘self’ to give. She was dropped by her label after selling 7 million albums for them. She became crazed, yes, but uninteresting, never. She had done nothing wrong. She had proud vulnerability… and there is a certain music industry hatred for singers who don’t ‘fit in’ (this I know only too well), and they are never praised until death – when, finally, they can’t answer back,” he wrote on his official website. “The cruel playpen of fame gushes with praise for Sinead today… with the usual moronic labels of ‘icon’ and ‘legend.’ You praise her now ONLY because it is too late. You hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive and she was looking for you.”

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O’Connor’s 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live, during which she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II in protest of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, is considered by many to have derailed her career. It led to backlash from conservatives and made her an object of ridicule in popular culture.

While many tributes in the press and from celebrities on social media—from pop band Garbage to actors Sandra Bernhard and Jamie Lee Curtis—have noted O’Connor’s mistreatment by the media and the music industry, Morrissey’s post suggests that he considers the response to her death to be hypocritical.

“The press will label artists as pests because of what they withhold … and they would call Sinead sad, fat, shocking, insane … oh but not today!” he wrote. “Music CEOs who had put on their most charming smile as they refused her for their roster are queuing-up to call her a ‘feminist icon,’ and 15 minute celebrities and goblins from hell and record labels of artificially aroused diversity are squeezing onto Twitter to twitter their jibber-jabber … when it was YOU who talked Sinead into giving up … because she refused to be labelled, and she was degraded, as those few who move the world are always degraded. Why is ANYBODY surprised that Sinead O’Connor is dead?”

He goes on to compare O’Connor to Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Marilyn Monroe, and Billie Holiday—all famous women who died prematurely after being mistreated in the media and by the entertainment industry.   

“She was a challenge, and she couldn’t be boxed-up, and she had the courage to speak when everyone else stayed safely silent. She was harassed simply for being herself. Her eyes finally closed in search of a soul she could call her own,” Morrissey wrote. “As always, the lamestreamers miss the ringing point, and with locked jaws they return to the insultingly stupid ‘icon’ and ‘legend’ when last week words far more cruel and dismissive would have done. Tomorrow the fawning fops flip back to their online shitposts and their cosy Cancer Culture and their moral superiority and their obituaries of parroted vomit … all of which will catch you lying on days like today … when Sinead doesn’t need your sterile slop.”

Morrissey himself has become an increasingly controversial figure in recent years for comments about China and London mayor Sadiq Khan that have been described as racist, his stated support for Brexit, and his support for far-right political party For Britain. Notably, his post about O’Connor was peppered with right-wing dog whistles, specifically references to “lamestreamers,” “Cancer Culture,” and “artificially aroused diversity.”