Brandjack News

By Quentin Langley

When a relatively obscure folk singer, one whose career, according to The Daily Beast, peaked in the 80s and 90s, is criticised for a homophobic rant and the apologises saying she was misunderstood a few days later, it is easy to be suspicious. Was this just a publicity stunt? Shocked says she is not that clever. I'd have to go along with that. If this was a publicity stunt, it was most certainly not a clever one. In the days of social media, all publicity is most certainly not good.

What are we to read into the singer's choice of stage name? Shocked? Was shocking people her objective? Secondly, how are we to interpret her, frankly, confusing claim that her shocking remarks were a "social experiment", especially in the light of her previous, rather mixed, stances on homosexuality?

In the past she has been associated with progressive causes, and has, at least, hinted that she might be lesbian. But in the 1990s she joined a church choir and became a born again Christian. She told a newspaper in 2008 that the bible describes homosexuality as a sin, but no more or less of a sin than fornication, going on to concede that she is "a fornicator with a capital F". A measured comment such as that remains controversial, but is not shocking. Her comments in San Francisco – of all places! – a few days ago that "God hates fags" and that gay marriage would bring on the apocalypse cross a line that can't be uncrossed. There are many subjects on which reasonable people can disagree, but asserting that God hates a group of people puts the speaker outside reasonable debate.

To turn around a few days later – a few days of silence and cancelled gigs – and to claim that the views she expressed were not her own: she was merely repeating what some people – emphatically not including herself among those some people – believe. Asking people to tweet the God hates fags remark was a social experiment to see how many people would.

Does anyone find that credible? 

The days of Barnum and Bailey are long gone, and the days of Max Clifford are coming to an end. It isn't just about publicity any more, when any remark you make – or pretend to make – can be exposed and analysed in seconds. All publicity is not good publicity, and Michelle Shocked has the cancelled gigs to prove it.