The Rolling Stones retire ‘Brown Sugar’ from current setlist
(Picture: 2021 Invision)The Rolling Stones have decided to leave ‘Brown Sugar’ off the setlist of their current tour over its controversial lyrics on slavery.
Bizarrely, the decision prompted Piers Morgan to write a furious Op-ed for Mail Online, apparently upset by the decision.
The 1971 hit makes overt references to Black women and slavery, beginning with the lyric, “Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields.” The song, which has been interpreted as being told from the point of view a slave owner, sexualizes Black women and heavily implies sexual assault.
Guitarist Keith Richards recently told The LA Times that the song is about the “horrors of slavery,” but others disagree. Producer Ian Brennan argued in a 2019 editorial that the song “glorifies rape, torture, and pedophilia,” and subsequently called for the song’s retirement.
Piers Morgan, however, equates the decision to retire ‘Brown Sugar’ as “surrendering to the woke brigade.” Morgan states that the song’ aims to defend and support Black women, but gives no analysis of the song’s lyrical content. Instead, the scathing essay attempts to argue that rap music as a whole is much more offensive, citing lyrics from Eminem, Kanye West, and Snoop Dogg as examples. He even cites the Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke collaboration, ‘Blurred Lines,’ as a song that received zero backlash for its admittedly “rapey” lyrics. (The song received universal backlash and has been dubbed as “the most controversial song of the decade.”)
*NEW COLUMN*
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 13, 2021
I’m getting no satisfaction from seeing the Rolling Stones surrender to the woke brigade – when the charts are full of rappers glorifying violent sex, misogyny and guns why is Brown Sugar the song that’s deemed offensive?https://t.co/9owIYSVQHf pic.twitter.com/zmPvfvneON
“The woke-fueled narrative will now be that the song IS racist, so the Stones are therefore racist,” Morgan says. “Nobody dares to go after rappers for fear they would be considered racist.” He then goes on to claim that most rappers are “appalling racists,” citing Ice Cube’s ‘Black Korea’ as proof. The track was written in response to the death of Latasha Harlins, a Black teenager who was fatally shot by a Korean store owner in 1991, and aims to tackle the racism of Korean shop owners in the Los Angeles area.
The Op-ed ends with Morgan stating that the “whole point of the Stones” was that they pushed boundaries and challenged conventional thinking, and accuses them of behaving like “timid little scaredy cats.”
“Grow a pair, Mick,” says Morgan. “Stand up to the woke bullies and sing ‘Brown Sugar’ loudly and proudly at the rest of your shows.”
But while most of his followers piled in with their support of his ‘anti-woke’ routine - not all of his followers were on board with his viewpoint:
I love The Rolling Stones and have since the year you were born. I also love “Brown Sugar” but always thought it was a bit problematic.
— PeggyMC (@PeggyMcGeady) October 13, 2021
It’s the fans that pushed back and that’s ok Piers. Shows a sign of respect, that what was once accepted maybe isn’t now. Man you are stuck in 1982
— robmccasker (@robmccasker) October 13, 2021
