Cancel culture has come for Belfast’s finest son. Ulster singer-songwriter Van Morrison, consociationally worshipped god of Norn Irn dad rock, is under fire for a trio of new, anti-lockdown songs. One particularly on-the-nose number is No More Lockdown, which contains the lyrics:
‘No more lockdown No more government overreachNo more fascist bullies Disturbing our peace.No more taking of our freedom And our God-given rights Pretending it’s for our safety When it’s really to enslave.’
Sure, it’s no ‘Standing in the sunlight laughing/ Hiding behind a rainbow’s wall/ Slipping and sliding/ All along the waterfall’, but in the present climate the consequences of releasing a dodgy song aren’t limited to landing in the lower reaches of the charts.
Northern Ireland’s actual health minister has denounced yer man’s lyrics as ‘dangerous’. Humour void Robin Swann told the BBC:
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