Lily Allen has said that she is “incensed” by the “spineless” tributes coming in for Sinéad O’Connor after the singer’s death, suggesting that the same people would not have stood up for her while she was alive.
The musician and activist died at the age of 56 last week (July 26), after being found unresponsive in her London home, prompting a wave of tributes from fans and artists including Garbage, Billy Corgan, Michael Stipe and Ice-T.
Best known for her rendition of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, O’Connor was outspoken in her political and religious views, most infamously protesting sexual abuse in the Catholic Church live on SNL by tearing up a photo of the pope in 1992.
Allen, however, has since expressed frustration with the apparent hypocrisy of positive tributes shared for the singer.
It’s hard not to feel incensed when there are so many people posting about Sinead and how fearless she was, people who would never in a million years align themselves with with anybody who stood for something or had anything remotely controversial to say. It’s so spineless. If…
— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) July 30, 2023
It’s also troubling that people have seemingly felt so empathetic towards her but didn’t feel that they could show it or express it for some reason. until they died. what does that say about us ? https://t.co/8Go7dIoHN7
— Lily Allen (@lilyallen) July 30, 2023
“It’s hard not to feel incensed when there are so many people posting about Sinead and how fearless she was, people who would never in a million years align themselves with anybody who stood for something or had anything remotely controversial to say,” Allen wrote in a tweet shared yesterday (July 30).
“It’s so spineless. If you can’t stand up for people in life don’t do it in death.”
She followed up in another tweet that it was “troubling” that people have “seemingly felt so empathetic towards her but didn’t feel that they could show it or express it for some reason. until they died.” She added: “What does that say about us?”
Allen is not the first artist to express this sentiment, after Morrissey attacked the music industry over O’Connor’s death.
However, in a new blog post titled ‘You Know I Couldn’t Last’, the former Smiths singer argued that the industry’s response to her death was hypocritical when they “hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive and she was looking for you”.
“She was a challenge, and she couldn’t be boxed-up, and she had the courage to speak when everyone else stayed safely silent. She was harassed simply for being herself,” he wrote.
O’Connor had discussed being “the first ever cancelled person” in her last TV interview.
After her death, a resurfaced clip shows Joe Pesci saying he “would have slapped” O’Connor after her controversial SNL protest.
One of the latest tributes hosted for the late singer was an emotional fan rendition of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ outside City Hall in Dublin.
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