Billy Bragg Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Americana Music / Morrissey Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Firefly
British artist and activist Billy Bragg has condemned the views of Morrissey in a lengthy new Facebook post. The renowned folk artist and notable far-left activist is (obviously) in a very different corner of the political spectrum than the former Smiths lead singer — over the past few weeks, Morrissey has supported a far-right party and claimed that "everyone prefers their own race" — and has quite a lot to say about Morrissey’s opinions, his response to criticism of those views, and the support he’s been receiving from artists like Brandon Flowers.
“Last Sunday, while much of the British media were lauding Stormzy's Glastonbury headline show as epoch defining, Morrissey posted a white supremacist video on his website, accompanied by the comment ‘Nothing But Blue Skies for Stormzy…The Gallows for Morrissey.’ … I came home from Glastonbury expecting to see some angry responses to his endorsement of white supremacism. Instead, the NME published an interview with Brandon Flowers in which the Killers lead singer proclaimed that Morrissey was still “a king.”
The post goes on to condemn Morrissey’s support of far-right political figure Anne Marie Waters, and question Morrissey’s idea that he’s in some way being censored or denied his right to free speech. It’s a powerful essay; read it in full at Bragg’s Facebook.
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