Elton John, who is going to turn George Orwell’s Animal Farm into a musical, is continuing his war against other musicians who are letting political fights dictate their performance schedule.
Having railed against other artists for ditching Israeli concert dates over the flotilla attack (Elton kept his regularly scheduled concert), he’s now going after anyone who’s refusing to perform in Arizona because of SB1070, the discriminatory “arrest the immigrant” law.
“We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona,” he told the crowd. “I have read that some of the artists won’t come here. They are (expletive)wits! Let’s face it: I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what’s the (expletive) with these people?”
Now please don’t make Elton have to get in a war with Lady Gaga over this.
How about we take this to the next level?
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gjr
Um, Elton John also has the social consciousness of a dead tree. He had no problem performing at Rush’s wedding when he’s already got more money than he can handle. Eminem? Sure, no problem. You know, it’s one thing to make a choice for YOURSELF to perform at one of these events which are protected, yet another to disparage others who make a different choice. Stay classy, Elton. For the record, the state is already losing millions because of this stupid law. If more people pulled together, it would be an even stronger signal. But Elton doesn’t care about all of those pesky social justice issues.
gjr
Wonder if Elton would have played in Nazi Germany too (No, I’m not comparing the Arizona law to Nazi Germany), just sayin’, according to him, it’s all well and good to perform in places with really bad policies. Most important is to get that paycheck.
greybat
I wonder just how well “Animal Farm” would play in Arizona?
Sug Night
Anything for a buck. Total sellout.
That Bitch Téa Delgado
What an ass. I think I’m going to take my Elton CDs and donate them to the library. I don’t need them anymore.
Martin Murray
Let’s not forget that Elton John played in South Africa during the Apartheid regime.
It’s ONLY about the money with Elton.
His greed is truly repellant.
Henry Holland
How about you people address his point:
“Let’s face it: I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what’s the (expletive) with these people?”
It’s easy for a touring musician/band to bypass AZ, it’s not going to make a big dent if they don’t play Phoenix and/or Tucson, but not play California? That’d be a big deal, but I don’t see any major musicians boycotting my home state because of the Prop 8 fiasco. Good for Elton for calling out those hypocrites.
Boycotts are lame anyways, they mostly hurt the fans, especially ones that don’t live in NYC, LA, Chicago or other big city markets.
Lora
Actually, as a gay man, Elton John has quite a few rights in California: he can form a domestic partnership and he is protected by one of the most comprehensive sets of anti-discrimination laws in the country. LGBT people in California are protected against discrimination in housing, employment, and accessing government services. They are protected under the state’s hate crime law. None of this is uniformly true in all other states–certainly not in Arizona, where the current governor repealed the bill signed by her predecessor extending domestic partnership benefits to state employees.
Of course, the final irony in this is that Elton John is himself an immigrant. If the Arizona police start stopping Englishmen and demanding to see their documents, perhaps he’ll change his tune–his racist, ill-informed, stupidly judgmental tune.
Sug Night
Hey, somebody’s got to pay for that weave.
Syl
Good on Elton. Since when does being queer mandate that we have to march lockstep wth the left? Anyone with a pair of eyes and a brain ought to see that unrestricted illegal immigration and the drug trade across our southern border is draining us dry. Our nation’s schools and social services are meant for our citizens, not foreign nationals and their anchor babies.
Still, Sir Elton is 2:1 in my book. Playing at Rush’s wedding and his “fuck you I got mine” attitude on gay marriage is in no way made up by him being right this one time. He still is an awesome performer. I’ve seen him live twice. :3
FAEN
Elton, youre a disgrace to the GLBT community and to decent human beings everywhere. Go stick your head up your ass…..no one will be able to tell the difference.