Oh, 'Guardian', Everyone Grows Up Sometime....

...even Morrisey:

Thirty years after the Smiths broke up, the 58-year-old’s reputation is in dire shape, and not for musical reasons. His albums are still well received and he remains a passionate live performer with enough diehard fans to fill stadiums. No, the problem is what he says.

*gasps* You mean, he's started to have opinions you don't agree with? Under the bus with him!

Ten years ago Morrissey was quoted in the NME as complaining about immigration: “Although I don’t have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears.”

So, something a lot of people outside the 'Guardian' offices would agree with?

He sued the magazine for defamation (“I abhor racism and oppression or cruelty of any kind”) and donated £28,000 to Love Music Hate Racism, but the case was settled and the quotes were never retracted. In 2010 he called the Chinese “a subspecies” due to their mistreatment of animals. In 2013 he said he nearly voted for Ukip and liked Nigel Farage “a great deal”. He has described Brexit to an Australian website as “magnificent”.

Fetch the sal volatile, quick!

Such comments have exhausted the patience of many longtime devotees with progressive political views.

I'm surprised to hear that, not least because 'patience' and 'progressive political views' aren't known to go together...

On the Etsy website you can buy a tote bag bearing the words: “Shut up, Morrissey!”

Well, of course you can. Because the answer to speech you don'y like is... errr....

“Now I find that he’s a sledgehammer provocateur who seems to have much in common with ‘paid to write spite’ columnists,” says the comedian, broadcaster and disillusioned fan Robin Ince.

“I was drawn to him because he was writing about humanity when I was young and trying to work out how to be a human. Now his view of humanity makes him a hard listen. The disappointment is my own fault. We elevate when we are young and then ignore the warning signs for years.”

Some might say you elevate when you are young and then you grow up and realise the old fogeys have a point. Unless, of course, you don't grow up.