Morrissey Called Out Musicians for ‘Moronic’ Tributes to Sinéad O’Connor: ‘You Hadn’t the Guts’
On July 26, 2023, Irish musician Sinéad O’Connor died at 56, and fellow artist Morrissey called out the hypocrisy of the music industry. O’Connor remained outspoken throughout her career; she famously tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II to protest sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Her outspokenness brought her criticism from the public and her fellow musicians. When news of her death broke, Morrissey took issue with the latter. He believed the music industry hadn’t stood up for O’Connor when it mattered.
Morrissey addressed musicians who spoke of their love of Sinéad O’Connor after her death
After the news of O’Connor’s death broke, social media saw an outpouring of tributes from her fans and peers. Morrissey quickly took issue with this.
“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 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.”
Many turned their backs on her due to her political activism. Morrissey believed it was hypocritical to turn around and publicly mourn her.
“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,” he wrote. “Tomorrow the fawning fops flip back to their online s***posts 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 noted that Sinéad O’Connor always stood up for her beliefs
In his post, Morrissey praised the bravery of O’Connor’s outspokenness.
“She was a challenge, and she couldn’t be boxed-up, and she had the courage to speak when everyone else stayed safely silent,” he wrote. “She was harassed simply for being herself. Her eyes finally closed in search of a soul she could call her own.”
While many of today’s celebrities speak out about political issues, O’Connor boldly took a stance in the early 1990s, when her activism brought her condemnation, not points with fans.
“It wasn’t cool, on-trend activism,” Kathryn Ferguson, the director of Nothing Compares, a documentary about O’Connor, told The Guardian. “A lot of it was very unpalatable. The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church? Jeez Louise, it’s not something people wanted, or were ready, to hear.”
Her political statement on Saturday Night Live brought her much attention. She also spoke out about feminism, racial equality, and a united Ireland, among other issues.
She didn’t like the way Bob Dylan treated her
O’Connor recognized the ways the music industry turned their backs on her. Shortly after her appearance on SNL, she took the stage at Madison Square Garden for Bob Dylan’s 30th-anniversary concert. Half the audience began booing her while the other half tried to drown them out with cheering. It was so loud that she realized the song she intended to sing, “I Believe in You,” would never have been audible.
Instead, O’Connor sang Bob Marley’s “War” as she had on SNL and walked off stage. She felt that Dylan, a longtime hero of hers who began his career singing protest music, should have said something in her defense. Instead, he stared at her, confused.
“Afterward, I feel like Bob Dylan is the one who should have come out and told his audience to let me sing,” she wrote in her book Rememberings. “And I’m pissed that he didn’t. So I glare at him in the wings as if he’s my big brother who’s just told my parents I skipped school. He stares back at me, baffled. He’s looking all handsome in his white shirt and pants. It’s the weirdest thirty seconds of my life.”
