Shirley Manson had some choice words last month for rapper Kanye West after he took the stage at the Grammy Awards and told Beck that he should “respect artistry” and give his award to Beyonce; the Garbage singer took to her Facebook page to send a message to West and call him out for being “petty” and told him to grow up. But a rep for the singer says that a second Facebook post–put up over the weekend–was not, in fact, aimed at Kanye, as several media outlets have reported.
Manson let Kanye have it via social media after the Grammys incident, writing:
“Dear Kanye West. It is YOU who is so busy disrespecting artistry. You disrespect your own remarkable talents and more importantly you disrespect the talent, hard work, and tenacity of all artists when you go so rudely and savagely after such an accomplished and humble artist like BECK. You make yourself look small and petty and spoilt. In attempting to reduce the importance of one great talent over another, you make a mockery of all musicians and music from every genre, including your own. Grow up and stop throwing your toys around. You are making yourself look like a complete tw-t.”
Shirley’s post this past weekend was addressed to “He Who Shall Remain Nameless” after she received an email that clearly sparked her ire. In it, she writes, “What alarms me more than anything about your nasty little barbs is that you are in the business of representing artists interests and yet you are clearly unaware that not all musicians are obsessed with the charts or being famous. Some of us do not value ourselves by the number of mainstream ‘hits’ we have enjoyed… Some of us just enjoy making music and having a long lifespan of a career without having to dance as fast as we can, or be the loudest clown in town… in order to remain ‘on top.’ There are even some of us who do not believe that being famous is the holy grail or the answer to a beautiful, meaningful and rewarding life… Who do NOT want to be gossiped about in the popularity contest columns. Who most definitively do NOT want to be chased by paparazzi and who do NOT want to put their family name to some sh—- , poorly made product in order to build a ‘brand’ and who most definitely do NOT want to go out every night, dressed up to the nines to the opening of an envelope.”
Several media outlets picked up on the post and assumed she was aiming it at West, but according to Us Weekly, he has nothing to do with this one. Manson clarified the matter on her page this week, saying:
I would just like to state for the record that my post from a few days ago which has been heisted today by US Weekly and then consequently glommed onto by a variety of so called news sources had absolutely NOTHING to do with Kanye West whatsoever.
It was directed towards a completely unknown industry insider who had in my opinion been rather offensive in his dealings with me last week.
I take great exception to US Weekly rushing to assume who this aforementioned post was directed towards. Instead of doing their due diligence which in my opinion is their journalistic duty, they have instead made lazy, potentially libelous assumptions which I find completely offensive and entirely inaccurate.
Modern journalism in most cases these days, barely resembles the craft that was once practiced with such care, skill and integrity. Instead we are stuck with provocative scandal mongers who will stoop at nothing in an effort to drive people to their web sites.
Ignore all the stupidity and get on with your lives my friends.
I fully intend to do the same.
Us Weekly also ran an update on the story.
“An earlier version of this story stated — erroneously — that Manson had written her Facebook post specifically about Kanye West. A rep for the singer reached out to Us Weekly to clarify that the anonymous subject of Manson’s note was not, in fact, the rapper. Us regrets the error,” Us Weekly wrote.