Morissey who has trashed the Royal Family, Band Aid, the Chinese and former bandmates in his time has had a go at the Olympics. More specifically he has called GB’s Olympic joy “blustering jingoism”. This is how the Independent reported the outburst originally made on his own true to you blog which compared the atmosphere to the games held in Hitler’s Germany in 1939.
Was asked for a reaction by Channel 4 news yesterday. Their report on it is here:
I am quoted. Here is a longer version of the answers I gave them:
– Is Morissey shocking anymore? Or is he like the mad old uncle at Christmas?
I think Morrissey has become a pantomime dame. It may be a cliché to say so but “that joke isn’t funny anymore”. His quest to be controversial sometimes leads him to spout the idiotic
– Why do you think he feels moved to make comments like this one? Or has he got a point?
To be fair before the games started it did seem that there were very few actual people one encountered (ie not politicians) who were not sceptical of the benefits that this £9bn taxpayer funded event would have for the ordinary Joe and Josephine however attitudes have transformed. Starting with the enormous goodwill generated by the torch ceremonies then the warms-the-cockles-of-your-heart opening ceremony then topped by the amazing run of medal success there is an inescapable feelgood factor. Even the hardest of hearts seems to have melted. As an expat Morrissey is unaware of this and I feel he has misjudged the public on this one.
– Does his flirtation with race issues damage his musical legend?
For me the Smiths were musically and morally unimpeachable but Morrissey solo has increasingly disappointed with his race ambiguity.
– If you could fax him some words of advice, what would they be?
Get yourself on Twitter Moz as Johnny Marr is these days and quit the war of the faxes. You can’t be a cumudegeonly old luddite forever
Rupa Huq's Blog 
7 comments
Comments feed for this article
August 9, 2012 at 5:31 pm
James Walrus
I’m sure the Berlin Olymics in 1936 generated “enormous goodwill” and involved a “warms-cockles-of-your-heart” opening ceremony as well as an “inescapable feelgood factor.” Maybe Morrissey’s expat status allows him to be more objective as we can be now about Berlin.
August 10, 2012 at 10:35 am
Paul Burgin
But Morrisey has always been curmudgoenly! I suspect his Irish blood/English heart song is the most autobiographical in terms of his torn feelings of things patriotic! The thing to remember about the Berlin Olympics is that Jewish athletes were forbidden from competing for Germany and Hitler refused to meet Jesse Owens. Do we see such behaviour from the UK? No!
August 12, 2012 at 10:25 am
James Walrus
Yes, this Olympics exudes glossy ‘multiculturalism’! And when the mushy patriotic sentimentality is milked for all it’s worth in screwing over poor people and poor countries, I wonder who will be more ‘multicultural’: the screwed-over or the screwers-over…? (And the screwed-over won’t necessarily have gorgeous exotic pecs!)
August 12, 2012 at 10:35 am
rupahuq
Thanks Paul and James. Funny how no public figure has agreed with Morrissey’s comments. Have posted this link on Facebook too where someone said he’s been wrong on race for 20 years. He shows a complete lack of any sense of proportion. Still he’s always good for a shocking quote if that’s what you’re after.
August 17, 2012 at 12:40 am
monty
“Funny how no public figure has agreed with Morrissey’s comments.”
Nothing funny or strange about that. Public figures rarely if ever speak out against the royals because it will hinder their careers and their hopes of awards in the honours list. Public figures are mostly upwardly aspiring brown-nosers when it comes to royalty. I admire Morrissey’s anti-royal statements which he has been making throughout his career, including his time in The Smiths. I agree with him about “blustering jingoism” too. I watched half of the Olympic opening ceremony and then had to switch off because of an acute attack of nationalistic nausea. But in his comparison with the Berlin Olympics, Morrissey is guilty of a wretched reductio ad Hitlerium.
August 17, 2012 at 3:26 pm
monty
PS: I thought the closing ceremony was a lot less jingoistic and much more about having fun, though George Michael’s shameless plugging of his brand new product was sickening. For me, Eric Idle was the star of the show and I would have liked his wonderful song to have closed the music part of the ceremony rather an elderly rocker who was placed on the sex offenders register for five years for accessing child pornography on the internet. The speedy rehabilitation of Mr Townshend and his seriously tarnished image by the media and events organisers is nothing short of astounding. Doubtless he will receive a knighthood in due course and his wrongdoing will be erased from the media memory for all time. Arise Sir Pete for services to…
August 17, 2012 at 3:28 pm
monty
PS: I thought the closing ceremony was a lot less jingoistic and much more about having fun, though George Michael’s shameless plugging of his brand new product was sickening. For me, Eric Idle was the star of the show and I would have liked his wonderful song to have closed the music part of the ceremony rather than an elderly rocker who was placed on the sex offenders register for five years for accessing child pornography on the internet. The speedy rehabilitation of Mr Townshend and his seriously tarnished image by the media and events organisers is nothing short of astounding. Doubtless he will receive a knighthood in due course and his wrongdoing will be erased from the media memory for all time. Arise Sir Pete for services to…