Morrissey calls out music industry hypocrisy in the wake of Sinéad O'Connor's death

Sinéad O’Connor died yesterday, igniting a massive outpouring of love and sadness from fellow musicians to actors to politicians and other celebrities from her native country of Ireland. Perhaps her most outspoken admirer, however, is the one and only Morrissey, who took to his personal website Wednesday to speak out for the artist and against what he considers the empty platitudes bestowed upon her with his usual fervor.

“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 wrote. “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!… 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.”

O’Connor’s mental health suffered in her later years, especially after the 2022 suicide of her beloved son, Shane. While she posted a number of pained updates to her social media in the following months, police say her death is not being treated as suspicious, according to the BBC. “She became crazed, yes, but uninteresting, never,” Morrissey wrote of her struggle.

O’Connor was also well-known for political statements that led to intense backlash, from ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II (a move which resulted in a lifetime ban from Saturday Night Live in the early nineties) to turning down a Grammy in 1991. More recently, she also dedicated her 2023 RTÉ Choice Music Award to Ireland’s refugee community, saying “You’re very welcome in Ireland. I love you very much and I wish you happiness.”

Morrissey addressed her passion by asking “was this music madness worth Sinead’s life? No, it wasn’t.” He 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.”

Of course, Morrissey—who has frequently expressed right-wing sentiments in recent years—couldn’t go the entire post without throwing shots at the “lamestream” media and “cancel culture.”

“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 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.”

You can read Morrissey’s full post here.