Oh Portland, giddy Portland, home of the looney left. The Oregon city where the streets often seem to be “protected” by Antifa, rather than the police, is where pop star and former Smiths front man Morrissey found himself performing on Sunday night. Sure enough, in perfect Portland style, there to ruin everyone’s night was a protestor holding aloft signs mocking the British singer.
One sign had the symbol of the “For Britain” party, which Morrissey has expressed support for, with a red circle around it and a line crossed through it. The other said “Bigmouth Indeed,” a reference to the Smiths song “Bigmouth Strikes Again.”
In response to the sign waving, Morrissey stopped the show, and said, “Let’s be quite frank. When you or the sign are removed, I will continue.” He added, “Otherwise, get out now.” As security approached and removed the protester, Morrissey serenaded them with the words, “go,” “goodbye,” and “we don’t need you.” It could almost have been a new song.
Morrissey has been dogged by allegations of racism for supporting For Britain since he appeared on the Jimmy Fallon show in May wearing the party’s button. In an interview, he explained why he supports For Britain and why he is uncowed by allegations of racism stemming from that support:
I have been following a new party called For Britain which is led by Anne Marie Waters. It is the first time in my life that I will vote for a political party. Finally I have hope. I find the Tory-Labour-Tory-Labour constant switching to be pointless. For Britain has received no media support and have even been dismissed with the usual childish ‘racist’ accusation. I don’t think the word ‘racist’ has any meaning any more, other than to say ‘you don’t agree with me, so you’re a racist.’ People can be utterly, utterly stupid.
For many of Morrissey’s fans, his unwillingness to bow to the current pressures of political correctness make him more dear to them. He is always a speaker of difficult truths in his songs, and his willingness to take on issues like the challenge of multiculturalism in England is seen by many as a feature, not a bug. While some Brit pop stars experiment with strange genders and sexualities to prove their leftist bona fides, Morrissey bucks this, preferring to be exactly who he is.
A recent article in The Post Millennial titled, “Morrissey: The Last Unwoke Pop Star,” put it this way, “Morrissey is a peculiar case study in that he has always been political yet embodies the spirit of aestheticism almost perfectly. He exists within the realm of the sublime, a beauty through pain of sadness that speaks to his fans, refugees from mainstream pop joy.”
And that’s about right. What makes Morrissey unique today is his ability to eschew the conformity of leftist entertainment industry group think, and express himself on his terms. Now we know that includes telling protesters to get out of his show so he and his fans and can get on with it.
In the wake of this incident, Morrissey has cancelled his upcoming show in Seattle, another Pacific Northwest city that is home to radicals a plenty. Whether fears of more protests led to the cancellation is unknown, but in any event he will back in business this week in San Francisco, continuing his U.S. tour.
