In the wake of Sinead O’Connor‘s death on Wednesday, many of her fellow music stars – from Ice-T to Melissa Etheridge to Janelle Monae – paid tribute to the “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer online. However, Morrisey, the controversial singer of The Smiths, told them to save their tears. “She had only so much ‘self’ to give,” Morrisey, 64, began in a post on his website, blasting those who would weep for Sinead, 56, now when they didn’t care for her before. “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,” he added. Later in the piece, he wrote, “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. 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.”
During the piece, Morrisey — who has, in the past, thrown his support behind a far-right UK political party, called Chinese people a “subspecies,” claimed a “black pop conspiracy” kept The Smiths off the charts, and that Hitler was a “left-wing” politician – took aim at a litany of subjects: the press; music CEOs for not supporting Sinead; music labels full “of artificially aroused diversity”; “cancer culture,” as he put it; those “queuing-up to call her a ‘feminist icon'”; and the “fawning fop” who are mourning her.
“Her eyes finally closed in search of a soul she could call her own,” wrote the “Bigmouth Strikes Again” singer. “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 sh-tposts and their cozy 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.”
Sinead passed away on July 26 at age 56. A spokesperson for Scotland Yard said that the death “is not being treated as suspicious.” Her family confirmed her passing, saying that her kin and friends were “devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”