Ian Brown has debuted a new cover of Johnny Osbourne’s ‘Truths & Rights’.
The new offering sees the Stone Roses man offering a largely faithful take on Osbourne’s Reggae staple, but features a selection of lyrics that could be interpreted as being in keeping with his controversial anti-vaccine views.
“The truth is there for who have eyes to see, partiality has no place in this judgement, just remember the words of prophecy,” Brown sings on the new track.
Brown has been a vocal critic of coronavirus vaccinations over the last year and has shared conspiracy theories related to the pandemic on several occasions.
He also pulled out of a headline slot at Manchester’s Neighbourhood Festival in February, claiming the event was demanding COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of entry.
In March, Brown also claimed that Spotify had taken down his anti-lockdown song ‘Little Seed Big Tree’ due to censorship.
The song was initially shared last September, along with the message: “NO LOCKDOWN NO TESTS NO TRACKS NO MASKS NO VAX.”
“SPOTiFY stream the streams and censor artists like they have with my last song TOOK IT DOWN just put it down the memory hole!” Brown tweeted on March 12, adding: “FREE EXPRESSiON AS REVOLUTiON.”
A Spotify spokesperson subsequently told NME: “Spotify prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health. When content that violates this standard is identified it is removed from the platform.”
Brown was also confirmed to play Glasgow’s TRNSMT Festival last month, but his booking led to backlash among fans.
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