Singer and former Smiths frontman Morrissey slammed celebrity tributes to the “crazed” Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor, who recently died at the age of 56, saying, “You hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive.”
“She had only so much ‘self’ to give. She was dropped by her label after selling 7 million albums for them,” Morrissey began in a statement on his website. “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 “This Charming Man” singer continued.
Morrissey went on to call out those who praise O’Connor now that she is dead, but never had “the guts to support her when she was alive.”
“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,” he said.
“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!” Morrissey exclaimed.
The singer 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.
Morrissey then likened O’Connor’s death to those of other stars, such as Judy Garland, Whitney Houston, and Amy Winehouse.
“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?” he said.
“Was this music madness worth Sinead’s life? No, it wasn’t,” Morrissey continued. “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 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,” the “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” singer added.
Morrissey concluded by proclaiming, “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.”
O’Connor, who found worldwide fame in 1990 with her cover of Prince’s song, “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and infamously tore a photo of Pope John Paul II in half in 1992, was a troubled star, who publicly struggled with mental health issues.
In 2017, she posted a video to Facebook where she described herself as suicidal. “People who suffer from mental illness are the most vulnerable people on Earth,” O’Connor said in the emotional message.
In 2018, the singer announced that she had converted to Islam and changed her name to Shuhada. Last year, O’Connor’s son, Shane, died at the age of 17, leading to a medical episode for her.
No cause of O’Connor’s death has been given.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.