"Insultingly stupid": Rock legend slams tributes to Sinead O'Connor
<p>Morrissey has taken aim at some "disingenuous" people who have paid tribute to Sinead O'Connor in the hours after her death. </p>
<p>The Irish singer was <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/news/news/sin-ad-o-connor-passes-away-at-just-56" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tragically passed away</a> at the age of 56 on Thursday, after a statement from her family confirmed the devastating news. </p>
<p>"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time," the singer's family said in a statement, prompting a wave of homages online from her fans.</p>
<p>However, the former frontman of The Smiths has shared a furious note on his website, criticising some of the tributes which he described as "sterile slop". </p>
<p>He wrote that he believes people are only praising her work and activism now that she has passed, and the gushing tributes have largely come from people who criticised her career while she was alive. </p>
<p>He wrote, “She was dropped by her label after selling 7 million albums for them.”</p>
<p>“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'." </p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>He also blasted others in the wider industry for not giving O’Connor props while she was alive. </p>
<p>“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! 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.”</p>
<p>He went on to compare O’Connor to other entertainers who died at a young age, such as Judy Garland, Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse, asking “why is ANYBODY surprised” that they died. </p>
<p>“Where do you go when death can be the best outcome?” he asked.</p>
<p>He finished with an instruction to those who had offered the “insultingly stupid” and "disingenuous" tributes that O’Connor was an “icon” and a “legend”, saying “Sinead doesn’t need your sterile slop.”</p>
<p>Morrissey's rant was met with a mixed response from fans, while other celebrities shared their support of his sentiment. </p>
<p>Boy George tweeted his agreeance, shared a photo of himself with Sinead and writing, “Morrissey is both wrong and right. Most people had zero influence over Sinead. She was her own person with her own issues. At time like this you can only offer prayers because we are out of solutions. My mum and I had great chats about Sinead. We all wanted her fixed.”</p>
<p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>
