Following the death of Sinead O’Connor on Wednesday, fans and friends within the music industry continue to mourn the singer, citing her talent and outspoken activism. But Morrissey isn’t buying all the tributes.
The Smiths frontman wrote a blog post Wednesday condemning those who called O’Connor an “icon” or “legend” in their tributes but did not have enough courage to support her or her music while she was alive.
“She had only so much ‘self’ to give,” Morrissey wrote. “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. 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.”
The “This Charming Man” singer then explicitly called out the media and music executives for ridiculing O’Connor publicly and pushing her into “giving up.”
“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 continued. “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.”
To Morrissey, O’Connor’s sudden death unfortunately does not come as a surprise — he notes that the outcome the late star has faced is one experienced by many fallen icons in Hollywood and the music industry at large.
“Why is ANYBODY surprised that Sinead O’Connor is dead? Who cared enough to save Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Marilyn Monroe, Billie Holiday? Where do you go when death can be the best outcome? Was this music madness worth Sinead’s life? No, it wasn’t,” he wrote. “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.”
As of press time, O’Connor’s cause of death remains unknown, but according to BBC, her death is not being treated as suspicious.
Read Morrissey’s statement in full here.
