It can be tough to separate the art from the artist, particularly when the artist has separated his own brain stem from his cerebral cortex. Such is the case with Irish rock legend Van Morrison, who’s embraced the COVID-19 death cult with the kind of vigor Donald Trump might embrace a big slab of rotisserie gyro meat in the bathroom stall of a Coney Island Greek restaurant at 3 AM on a random Tuesday.
Sadly, Morrison has followed in the footsteps of fellow rocker Eric Clapton, who has gone out of his way to denigrate basic public health measures in the wake of the worldwide COVID-19 crisis. And now Morrison appears to be in a wee bit of legal trouble for it. In other words, he just received some not-so-”Glad Tidings.”
Damn, I still love that song.
The Associated Press:
After Morrison released three songs criticizing public health restrictions—“No More Lockdown,” “Born to Be Free,” and “As I Walked Out”—Swann wrote an opinion piece for Rolling Stone last September. In the piece, Swann called Morrison’s claims about COVID-19 mitigation measures “bizarre and irresponsible.”
For example, in the song “No More Lockdown,” Morrison sang, “No more lockdown/No more government overreach/No more fascist bullies/Disturbing our peace/No more taking of our freedom/And our God-given rights/Pretending it’s for our safety/When it’s really to enslave.”
As a result of those lyrics and more, Swann accused Morrison of giving aid and comfort to the “tin foil hat brigade,” and encouraging the spread of their dangerous disinformation:
Swann’s lawyer, Paul Tweed, said legal proceedings “are at an advanced stage with an anticipated hearing date early in 2022.” Morrison’s attorney, Joe Rice, responded that “the words used by him related to a matter of public interest and constituted fair comment.”
I’m not sure how this kind of nonsense has seeped into the brains of people who I once admired, but it’s a disturbing development. Of course, it could be worse. If Donald Trump had succeeded in stealing the 2020 election, Dr. Anthony Fauci might have been fired and replaced with Joe Rogan’s podcast producer. I’m only sort of kidding.
Let’s make sure that never happens, eh?
It made comedian Sarah Silverman say, “THIS IS FUCKING BRILLIANT,” and prompted author Stephen King to shout “Pulitzer Prize!!!” (on Twitter, that is). What is it? The viral letter that launched four hilarious Trump-trolling books. Get them all, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.
Sadly, Morrison has followed in the footsteps of fellow rocker Eric Clapton, who has gone out of his way to denigrate basic public health measures in the wake of the worldwide COVID-19 crisis. And now Morrison appears to be in a wee bit of legal trouble for it. In other words, he just received some not-so-”Glad Tidings.”
Damn, I still love that song.
The Associated Press:
After Morrison released three songs criticizing public health restrictions—“No More Lockdown,” “Born to Be Free,” and “As I Walked Out”—Swann wrote an opinion piece for Rolling Stone last September. In the piece, Swann called Morrison’s claims about COVID-19 mitigation measures “bizarre and irresponsible.”
For example, in the song “No More Lockdown,” Morrison sang, “No more lockdown/No more government overreach/No more fascist bullies/Disturbing our peace/No more taking of our freedom/And our God-given rights/Pretending it’s for our safety/When it’s really to enslave.”
As a result of those lyrics and more, Swann accused Morrison of giving aid and comfort to the “tin foil hat brigade,” and encouraging the spread of their dangerous disinformation:
Swann’s lawyer, Paul Tweed, said legal proceedings “are at an advanced stage with an anticipated hearing date early in 2022.” Morrison’s attorney, Joe Rice, responded that “the words used by him related to a matter of public interest and constituted fair comment.”
I’m not sure how this kind of nonsense has seeped into the brains of people who I once admired, but it’s a disturbing development. Of course, it could be worse. If Donald Trump had succeeded in stealing the 2020 election, Dr. Anthony Fauci might have been fired and replaced with Joe Rogan’s podcast producer. I’m only sort of kidding.
Let’s make sure that never happens, eh?
It made comedian Sarah Silverman say, “THIS IS FUCKING BRILLIANT,” and prompted author Stephen King to shout “Pulitzer Prize!!!” (on Twitter, that is). What is it? The viral letter that launched four hilarious Trump-trolling books. Get them all, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.