Morrissey is never one to hold his tongue on any opinion that crosses his mind. Typically, that lines up with his pithy persona quite well. But his most recent comments in an interview with Alternative Nation ring more tone deaf than the legendary singer would probably prefer.
During the course of the interview, President Obama and American politics came up, which Moz is more than capable of giving an honest, cogent opinion about. However, while criticizing Obama’s slow reaction to events like Ferguson, he maybe went a bit further than normal:
Obama has mystified me because he doesn’t appear to support black people when they need it most… Ferguson being an obvious example. If Michael Brown had instead been one of Obama’s daughters, I don’t think Obama would be insisting that the nation support the so-called security forces! How can they be called security forces if they make the people feel insecure? Obama seems to be white inside. There is an obvious racial division in America and it’s exploding and Obama doesn’t ever support the innocent black people who are murdered by white police officers who are never held accountable. You would expect him to be more understanding of what it means to be black. But so far, he hasn’t been. There’s no point in continually saying that we must support the police when it is obvious to the entire world that the police in America are out of control.
While criticizing politicians is Rock and Roll 101, questioning a black person’s blackness or authenticity to their race, particularly as a white person, is probably the wrong move. Yes, Barack Obama has a black father and a white mother, but the world codes him as black and he also identifies as such. To try to strip him of his humanity in that way is pretty indefensible.
Also in the interview, Morrissey gave his thoughts on Hillary Clinton’s chances (“Michelle Bachmann, Ann [Coulter], Sarah Palin… they are all horrific spikes in the forehead.”), vegetarianism (“People who feed their children bits of animal carcass are insane.”), and Brandon Flowers stalking him. All non-controversial statements from this charming man.
(Via Alternative Nation, h/t Death + Taxes)