Morrissey’s Portland Show Interrupted By Protestors, Seattle Show Cancelled
Morrissey has always been a controversial figure, and he’s only gotten more controversial as he continues to descend into far-right ideology. Lately, he’s been extolling the virtues of For Britain, the extremist anti-immigration political party in the UK founded by a literal anti-Muslim activist. Morrissey wore a For Britain pin while performing on The Tonight Show a few months ago, and he went on to defend himself/dig himself in deeper by saying shit like “everyone ultimately prefers their own race.”
Understandably, this pissed a lot of people off. It’s led to the world’s oldest record store banning Morrissey’s albums. It’s led to Billy Bragg, the veteran singer-songwriter and leftist activist, saying that he has “no respect” for Morrissey and issuing a long statement condemning him and other artists’ continued support for him. And now it’s led to actual protestors showing up at Morrissey’s concerts.
Exclaim! reports that that a protestor was at Morrissey’s show in Portland last night, holding up signs that had “BIGMOUTH INDEED” and a crossed out For Britain logo on them. When he saw, Morrissey stopped playing in the middle of his set to demand that the protestor leave, saying, “Let’s be quite frank. When you or the sign are removed, I will continue. Otherwise, get out. Now.” He continued to repeatedly shout “Go! Goodbye! We don’t need you!” until they eventually bowed and walked out of the venue.
Because it’s 2019, Morrissey’s entire tantrum was captured on video. You can watch that below. Relatedly or not, Morrissey’s concert tonight at the WaMu Theater in Seattle has been cancelled. “Due to circumstances beyond our control, Morrissey will not be able to perform tonight’s concert scheduled in Seattle, Washington,” reads a statement on the promoter’s website. “Refunds will come from your point of purchase. The Morrissey/Interpol tour will resume as scheduled in San Francisco on Thursday.”