Fans are celebrating The Pogues’ infamous putdown of Laurence Fox

30 November, 2023

Shane MacGowan and Laurence Fox (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images and Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Fans are reminiscing about The Pogues‘ putdown of Laurence Fox following the news of frontman Shane MacGowan‘s death.

The singer passed away this morning, which was announced by his wife and family: “It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan. Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (30 November, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side,” the joint statement read. “Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family.”

Following this news, the band’s comments about Laurence Fox have gone viral. In 2020, it was announced BBC Radio 1 would play a censored version of The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale Of New York’ omitting the slurs “f****t” and “clut”. An uncensored edit would later play on BBC Radio 2.

In response, Fox tweeted: “The cultural commissars at the @bbc are telling you what is and isn’t appropriate for your ignorant little ears. Wouldn’t it be nice if we sent the (proper) version to the top of the charts?” He has since taken the tweet down.

The Pogues had only this to say to Fox: “Fuck off you little herrenvolk shite”. Herrenvolk was a concept in Nazi ideology which referred to the German people as being the “master race”.

One fan has called the diss “among his finest work”, with another calling it “the finest tribute that can possibly be paid to Shane and the Pogues”. It was also suggested on social media that “we should collectively mourn Shane McGowan’s death by calling out herrenvolk shite everywhere”.

The Pogues have previously replied to a tweet about the offending homophobic tweet, with writer Harrison Brocklehurst writing: “This is all I’m gonna say on it for the whole year: the word itself being in ‘Fairytale Of New York’ doesn’t bother or offend me, but straight people being so angry and outraged at its removal and literally fighting and arguing for the right to sing it bothers me deeply.”

In repsonse, the band shared the tweet and wrote: “This”.

Fox, actor turned political pundit, has made headlines for his controversial opinions and comments. Most recently, he and Calvin Robinson were fired from GB News after making a series of derogatory comments about journalist Ava Evans in September. Fox said: “Show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever.” Ofcom received over 7,300 complaints about the incident.

He also previously went viral for stirring up a race row centred around Meghan Markle in 2020, saying it was “racist” for him to be described as a “white privileged male” and that he was “bored” of people “throwing the race card” around.

In response, comedian and brother-in-law Richard Ayoade was reportedly furious with him, saying he had “never encountered racism”. Fox admitted that he “begged” Ayoade for help at the height of the controversy, but the comedian “was like what, [support you] on Twitter? It’s not real. It doesn’t exist, it’s mad. Stay away from it all. You know who I am and I know who you are”.

Yannis Philippakis of Foals also weighed in on the incident, calling him “a top drawer fucking idiot”. “How & why this man is allowed to talk on TV is beyond comprehension.” Lily Allen also chimed in, saying she was “sick to death of luvvies like Lawrence (sic) Fox going on TV and forcing their opinions on everybody else, when he’ll never have to deal with what normal people have to deal with in his gated community.”

Meanwhile, tributes in honour of MacGowan have poured in from the likes of Nick Cave, Tim Burgess and Frank Turner. You can read more of those here.

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