Below is a response from former CSA president Jim Winter to an article published in September on the BBC news website of this year to Morrissey, a UK singer touring Canada, suddenly cancelled his north American and Canada tour dates because he heard of “death threats” made against him. What the article did not prove, but hinted at, was these threats were related to the Canadian seal hunt which Morrissey is adamantly opposed to.
Dear Robin Levison-King,
Sadly I find your article referencing the threat to the life of the British singer Morrissey by, allegedly, a 26 old male resident of Ottawa, Canada and the cancellation of his US dates to lack journalistic rigour when you, without any evidence link the threat to the Canadian seal hunt. The Citizens of Ottawa have never been anything other than indifferent, for the most part, to the issue. Who is the resident of Ottawa who is allegedly responsible for the threat? An American? A muslim? An immigrant? An ethnic Chinese individual? A catholic, a protestant, a white man, a black man or a brown man???
Yes, Morrissey is against the Canadian seal hunt but it is only one of the many many issues based in hate that he has espoused. These include a threat to the life of the US president Donald Trump and negative comments about much in the USA that many, many Americans hold close to their hearts.
As far as anyone knows the individual involved in the Ottawa threat has/had no known association with the Canadian seal hunt by either the aboriginal sealers nor their “settler” counterparts.
It is far more likely that Morrissey canceled his US concert dates because.
A: He has outraged millions of Americans with comments about Donald Trump and American politics
B: because of the presence of a large muslim community in the Boston area who may be incensed by his anti muslim statements.
C: because of the large immigrant population in the Boston area who may have taken umbrage at his views on immigration.
D. His fear of retaliation by the Chinese government’s overseas activists following his comment that ….. “You can’t help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies.”
E: Due to the lack of ticket sales
As an ex journalist I do not claim that this list is a complete reflection of his political views but I suggest to you that given the spectrum they cover, the likelihood is that the cancellation of his American dates has absolutely nothing to do with the Canadian seal hunt. However, I do understand that linking the two is guaranteed “click bait”. Something that the BBC is not generally noted for. ….. Dear me, tsk tsk, ending a sentence with a preposition.
Sincerely,
J. Winter
Founding president CSA