It was only a matter of time before Morrissey weighed in on the Hollywood sexual assault reckoning, and that time has arrived. The Brexit fan and James Baldwin t-shirt purveyor was speaking to German publication Der Speigel about his new album, Low in High School, when he felt compelled to side with Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein. Both men have been accused of sexual misconduct ranging from inappropriate touching to rape. According to the Morrissey playbook, at least one of them is being “unnecessarily attacked.”
“I hate rape, I hate assault, I hate people being forced into a sexual situation,” Morrissey said. “But in quite a few cases, you look at the situation and think that the people being described as victims are simply disappointed. In the whole history of Rock ‘n’ Roll there’ve been musicians who’ve slept with groupies. If you go through the history, almost everyone is guilty of sleeping with minors. Why don’t we throw everyone in jail?”
“You have to ask, where were the boy’s parents,” he continued. “You ask yourself, if the boy didn’t know what could happen. I don’t know what it was like for him but in my youth, I was never in a situation like that. Never. It was always clear to me what could happen. If you’re in someone’s bedroom, you have to know where it could lead. That’s why I don’t find the whole thing very believable. It seems to me Spacey has been unnecessarily attacked.”
One of the many people to call Morrissey out for his comments is Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson. The badass 90s icon went on her band’s Twitter account to let Morrissey know that he had officially crossed the line between edgy and incredibly dangerous. “Morrissey has lost the fucking plot,” she wrote. “Weinstein + Spacey unfairly attacked? For rape, sexual abuse+coercion etc. Fuck U Morrissey! Fuck YOU.” Shirley is hardly alone in directing angry tweets toward Morrissey. Sometimes being alone in a sentiment doesn’t make you an establishment-rattling rebel, it just means you’re probably wrong.