captive dreamer Video Screengrab / X
CV NEWS FEED // English singer Steven Patrick Morrissey has weighed in on the diversity debate, calling diversity a “dreadful word” that promotes “conformity” in a recently resurfaced video on social media.
“They just want everything to be the same, the same, the same,” Morrissey, former frontman of The Smiths, said, criticizing record labels for pushing a so-called “diversity” agenda.
“So diversity means conformity. It doesn’t mean avant-garde, or let’s make really strange art. It means box everybody,” he continued. “Diversity, I think, is a dreadful word. Pin it to anything, and I think that situation is finished.”
The video, originally from a 2022 interview in London, marked Morrissey’s first on-camera interview since 2015. In it, he also delved into the growing influence of “cancel culture” sweeping society.
“We’re also in a protest culture like the late 60s, when everybody liked to go out on the streets and protest, and be angry about something and march up and down—everybody wants to do that now,” Morrissey told reporter Fiona Dodwell. “They want to be irate about something, which is okay, but you might be wasting your time.”
Morrissey’s frustration with the increasing emphasis on diversity and cancel culture—in what he called a “dumbing down” of UK culture—mirrors a rising sentiment in American politics.
A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report highlighted a growing cultural shift away from progressive values, with conservatism gaining traction in “the broader social fabric,” as CatholicVote reported late January.
The article pointed to a growing rejection of the “restrictive aspects of progressive culture,” including cancel culture and diversity initiatives, while also noting a renewed focus on free speech.
