How Could You, Mozza?

[Content Note: Rape apologia.]

As if the news wasn't painful enough for me to navigate already, I just had to read a heaping fuckload of rape apologia from Morrissey:

On the Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey scandals. Morrissey says that the whole thing has become "a play," and that the definition of sexual harassment has become so broad that "every person on this planet is guilty… Anyone who ever said 'I like you' to someone else is suddenly being charged with sexual harassment." Specifically, he says that the allegations against Kevin Spacey are "ridiculous," saying: "One wonders if the boy did not know what would happen. I do not know about you, but in my youth I have never been in situations like this. Never. I was always aware of what could happen. When you are in somebody's bedroom, you have to be aware of where that can lead to. That's why it does not sound very credible to me. It seems to me that Spacey has been attacked unnecessarily."

On Weinstein specifically: "People know exactly what's going on. And they play along. Afterwards, they feel embarrassed or disliked. And then they turn it around and say: 'I was attacked, I was surprised.' But if everything went well, and if it had given them a great career, they would not talk about it. I hate rape. I hate attacks. I hate sexual situations that are forced on someone. But in many cases one looks at the circumstances and thinks that the person who is considered a victim is merely disappointed."

He thinks many musicians have slept with underage kids: "Throughout the history of music and rock 'n' roll there have been musicians who slept with their groupies," he said, while clarifying that he was not one of them. "If you go through history, almost everyone is guilty of sleeping with minors. Why not throw everyone in jail right away?"

I broke up with Morrissey seven years ago, when he engaged in rank racism for which he's never apologized, so he shouldn't even be able to break my heart anymore.

But he's a man about whom I once wrote: "I remember seeing the video for "How Soon Is Now" on 120 Minutes, and recall the first time I heard Viva Hate in its gorgeous entirety and knew my life would never be the same. I know every lyric, every note, every nuance of Morrissey's voice and what the differences are between multiple recordings of the same track. ...When asked how I can listen to the same albums over and over and over again without ever remotely tiring of them, I can't explain. It's the music, yes, and Morrissey's breathtakingly beautiful lyrics, yes, and the themes — gender, sexuality, class, politics, history, literature, yes. But it's more than that, too. These songs are as familiar, as much a part of me, as my own thoughts. I sing Smiths songs in my sleep."

Those songs helped me recover from sexual assault. There were days when Morrissey's voice was the only thing keeping me on the planet.

That he now uses that voice to disgorge reprehensible rape apologia hurts me more than I can say.

It's so easy to laugh / It's so easy to hate / It takes guts to be gentle and kind... The man who wrote those words has forgotten their meaning.

And that makes me reverberatingly sad.