Morrissey. We sent you a memo a while back, asking you to “please stop” after your terrible latest album, Low in High School, hit the streets. But it looks like you didn’t get that memo. You cancelled a show at the last minute in California because it was “too cold”—but that’s only to be expected, of course. But now, you’ve hit a new low—victim blaming survivors of sexual assault after the Harvey Weinstein allegations came to light.
Here’s the full quote from his (roughly translated) train wreck of an interview with German publication Spiegel:
Of course, there are extreme cases, rape is disgusting, every physical attack is repulsive. But we have to see it in relative terms. Otherwise, every person on this planet is guilty… In many cases, one looks at the circumstances and thinks that the person referred to as a victim is merely disappointed.
He goes on to say this about Weinstein victims and the motivations behind their allegations:
People know exactly what's going on. And they play along. Afterwards, they feel embarrassed or disliked. And then they turn it around and say: 'I was attacked, I was surprised'. But if everything went well, and if it had given them a great career, they would not talk about it.
So, newsflash: Morrissey has been a flatulent pain in the arsehole for years now, spouting everything from racist nonsense to anti-immigration sentiments and comparing a seal hunt in Canada to the Holocaust.
Our music critic Sean Nelson wrote a very in depth and nuanced essay that explores the deep ambivalence between Morrissey’s music, his persona and his actual personality (and how difficult it is, as a longtime fan, to reconcile them all).
This time (finally?), he may have gone too far— Shirley Manson is pissed! And the saying-shit-just-to-court-controversy schtick is getting pretty old. (I mean, who does that anymore?) As journalist Maggie Serota tweeted: “Morrissey is like, two shitty opinions away from being invited as a guest onto Infowars” (oh hai, Billy Corgan).
So, here’s a new memo for Morrissey. This one’s pretty simple:
To: Morrissey
From: Everybody
Date: Now
Re: You’re Fired
Effective immediately, you are so fired from everything.
Please gather the belongings at your desk: your Golliwog collection, your perfumed candles, your Union Jack flag, the framed picture of Billy Fury, (and several framed pictures of yourself, dressed like Billy Fury), and make your way to the front of the lobby.
A security guard will escort you out of the building.
We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.