Sinéad O’Connor discussed being “the first ever cancelled person” in her last TV interview
Fans are sharing Sinéad O’Connor‘s last TV interview, in which she discussed whether she was “the first ever cancelled person”.
The acclaimed Irish singer and activist died yesterday (July 26) at the age of 56, her family announced.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time,” read a statement by the singer’s family reported by The Guardian.
While tributes pour in from the music industry and beyond in the wake of her death, fans are also lauding her activism and the criticism she faced for speaking her mind.
In 2021, O’Connor held her last TV interview on the Today chat show, with host Carson Daly suggesting that the singer was the “first cancelled person”.
“That’s a good question, I never thought of that,” O’Connor replied, saying she considered herself a “protest singer”.
“Sinéad O’Connor was never meant to be a pop star,” she said.
Watch the interview below.
Since O’Connor’s death, Morrissey has written a scathing critique of the music industry’s response to the news.
In a new blog post titled ‘You Know I Couldn’t Last’, Morrissey criticised the wider industry’s response to her death, arguing that it was hypocritical when they “hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive and she was looking for you”.
“She had only so much ‘self’ to give,” the former Smiths frontman began. “She was dropped by her label after selling 7 million albums for them. She became crazed, yes, but uninteresting, never. She had done nothing wrong. She had proud vulnerability … and there is a certain music industry hatred for singers who don’t ‘fit in’ (this I know only too well), and they are never praised until death – when, finally, they can’t answer back.”
An NME obituary read: “No amount of troubles could ever overshadow her talent; O’Connor was that rare artist who was determined to use her platform for retributive good, and she will be remembered not just for the beauty of her voice, but for its power.”
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Will Richards
NME
