Ginger Whinger

I'm genuinely distressed by the hate and bad vibes being directed at Ed Sheeran, just because he allowed his support act to be kicked off of his tour for expressing pro-Palestinian views.  The poor guy feels that everyone, including friends and family, have abandoned him - he's lost all of his support acts now and ticket sales for his concerts are falling.  Look, it is outrageous that people have turned on him over this issue - the fact is that you should already have hated him because he is patently shit.  I mean, everything about him is crap, his 'look', his attitudes, his music: it all epitomises the utter blandness and mediocrity that nowadays represents artistic endeavour.    Really, he and his music are completely and utterly bland - meaningless and instantly forgettable.  The fact that he has turned out to be a complete cipher with no apparent convictions, let alone loyalty, should come as no surprise.  Yet, the ginger whinger still expects us to feel sympathy for him and seems to think that a few tearful words about the situation in Gaza - which still manage to avoid establishing any actual moral position - are all that are needed for forgiveness.  But that seems to be par for the course these days where what pass for 'celebrities' are concerned: don't take a moral stance on anything, for fear that it might be the 'wrong' one.

Now, I know that there are plenty of big name celebrities who do take public positions on all manner of  issues, but these are generally those who are so big that they are going to get contracts and keep working regardless, (Hell, even Mel Gibson, whose drunken rantings revealed him as some kind of racist, anti-Semitic, misogynist religious extremist, still gets work in Hollywood).  I can also respect those who, like the late Dolly Parton, preferred to avoid overt political statements in order not to alienate sections of her audience who might disagree - but, like her, they often express a clear moral position through their charitable work and personally financed platforms.  What concerns me is that lower level of 'celebrity'.  Not just pub singers like Ed Sheeran who have inexplicably escaped onto the world stage, but those non-celebrity 'celebrities' who have sprung up, like fungi, thanks to the existence of the web - influencers.  You'd think that, as 'influencers', they might actually be interested in trying to influence opinion toward decent causes and values, in reality, of course, they are only really interested in influencing their followers to enrich them by clicking on their sponsored videos of them making cocks of themselves.  It scares me that these soulless non-entities are what pass for mass entertainment these days.  Sure, I'm well aware that ninety per cent, or so, of entertainment and entertainers in the pre-internet age were also shit - but generally, there was at least some quality bar they had to reach in order to get exposure on radio and TV networks.  Ed Sheeran is living proof that such standards no longer exist.