Morrissey has taken furious aim at some of those who’ve paid tribute to the late singer. Photo / Michel Linssen/Redferns

'Sterile slop': Morrissey slams tributes to Sinéad O’Connor

Author: NZ Herald,
Publish Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2023, 9:25AM

The Smiths frontman Morrissey has slammed some of those who have paid tribute to late singer Sinéad O’Connor after it was announced on Wednesday that she had passed away at 56.

Police confirmed that the Nothing Compares 2 U singer was found dead at her London home on July 26. Her death comes 18 months after her son, Shane’s, suicide. He was only 17 years old.

As news of her death started making headlines, tributes gushed in for the musical legend from fans as well as other musicians, grieving an incredible artist whose final years were ridden with recurrent mental health struggles.

Now, singer Morrissey has released a furious statement on his website, taking fire at some of the tributes, which he dubbed “sterile slop”.

He vented that O’Connor was undervalued while she was alive: “She was dropped by her label after selling 7 million albums for them.”

“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 Sinéad today … with the usual moronic labels of “icon” and “legend”.

English guitarist Johnny Marr, English singer Morrissey, English drummer Mike Joyce and English bassist Andy Rourke of The Smiths. Photo / Getty Images

“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 also slammed others figures in the industry for not giving O’Connor the credit she deserved while she was alive.

“The press will label artists as pests because of what they withhold … and they would call Sinéad 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 Sinéad into giving up … because she refused to be labelled, and she was degraded, as those few who move the world are always degraded.”

Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor performs in Milan, Italy on, October 5, 2014. Photo / AP

He then made a comparison between O’Connor and other talents who died young, such as Judy Garland, Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse, asking “why is ANYBODY surprised” that they passed away.

“Where do you go when death can be the best outcome?” he questioned.

He concluded by telling those who had offered “insultingly stupid” eulogies praising O’Connor for being an “icon” and a “legend”: “Sinead doesn’t need your sterile slop.”

Morrissey’s letter received mixed reactions from both his fans and other heavyweights in the industry. Boy George, who posted a picture of himself with O’Connor on Twitter, wrote: “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 Sinéad. We all wanted her fixed.”

When her second cup was taking on the night air, she rose, embraced us all and strode away into the fog-dimmed streetlights.
We sat there the four of us and variously expressed the same thing. What an amazing woman.

Peace be with your courageous heart Sinéad.
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) July 26, 2023

Actor Russell Crowe recounted a moving memory with to O’Connor, revealing that he had bumped into the singer by chance outside a Dublin pub last year.

The Troy singer chatted to Crowe and his friends, and what unfolded was an intense, wide-ranging conversation. O’Connor then rose from the table and seemingly disappeared back into the night.

After she had left, “we sat there the four of us and variously expressed the same thing. What an amazing woman. Peace be with your courageous heart Sinéad,” he shared.