David Gray issues stark warning against cancel culture
Singer David Gray has lashed out at cancel culture – saying people should focus on the artist's work instead.
The UK star sat down with host Ryan Tubridy on his podcast, The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy, and issued a stark warning to fans to stop focusing on artists' private lives.
Gray said to Ryan that he has never had much interest in artists' private lives because "I'm happy to just take the art without, like, 'when did he first have sex? who did he marry?'"
He said he finds "cancel culture" frustrating, adding: "it has all gone far too far."
He made the point that if we hold artists to such standards, "would we get rid of Picasso then? What are you going to do? You'd find an awful lot of musicians would be cancelled".
He told Ryan that he has similar concerns about Roald Dahl's works. Gray said that Dahl's children's books are being edited because of "the private thoughts he had", with no regard as to how great these books are for kids learning to read.
He also dismissed the trend of tearing down statues of 'cancelled' figures, saying that in his view the better way to deal with it would be "to put a sculpture that contradicts it all, updates it, a statue of someone else to reframe the conversation so you can't pretend [the original statue] wasn't there".
But the songwriter made it clear that "there's obviously a line that if you cross [you should be cancelled]".
Gray also described how it feels to be turning the same age as his father was when he died.
He told Ryan that "[my dad] lived three lifetimes' worth of experience" before his death from cancer in 1999.
"Thinking about him at the end and thinking I'm the same age as him then seems insane, it's impossible to get your head around."
Gray added that he always misses his dad in moments when "amazing times have been had."
"It just doesn't seem fair that he didn't meet all these lovely children and participate in our lives."
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