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- Sinead O'Connor brands BBC Radio 4 interview "offensive and misogynistic" and announces Woman's Hour boycott
Sinead O'Connor brands BBC Radio 4 interview "offensive and misogynistic" and announces Woman's Hour boycott
The singer has spoken out following an interview with Emma Barnett.
Andrew Chin/Getty Images
- Lidia Molina-Whyte
Published: Wednesday, 2 June 2021 at 10:59 am
Sinead O'Connor has said she will never appear on Woman's Hour again following an interview with host Emma Barnett which she called "extremely offensive and even misogynistic".
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O'Connor, who has changed her birth name to Shuhada Sadaqat, had joined Woman's Hour yesterday (1st June) to discuss her upcoming memoir, Rememberings. During the interview, Barnett brought up an article by The Telegraph's music critic Neil McCormick which described O'Connor as "the crazy lady in pop's attic".
In response, O'Connor said: “I think it’s a bit extreme to make the Jane Eyre comparison, I don’t think I’ve ever been perceived as ‘the crazy lady in pop’s attic’ as represented in Jane Eyre.
“It’s not like I’m trying to attack people with knives or trying to strangle people while I’m walking around in my nightdress.”
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Later, the singer posted on Twitter saying she had found the interview with Barnett "extremely offensive and even misogynistic".
She added: "One abusive and invalidating question or statement after another: 'madwoman in the attic' At that point I should have ended it. I will absolutely never do Women's hour again."(sic)
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In another tweet, O'Connor also apologised for comments made about Jamaican men in the interview, including comparing herself to a "Jamaican father, fathers say is a revolving door in my house."
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She tweeted: "Also, apologies if I accidentally offended Jamaican men. I was referring to specific friends of mine in the music business. Jamaican people are my favourite people on this earth and Jamaican male musicians my biggest inspiration."
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In response to O'Connor's comments, a BBC spokesperson told RadioTimes.com: “During an interview about her new book, Sinead O’Connor was talking about her mental health and was asked what she made of a comment by a music critic reviewing her book in recent days.”
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Authors
Lidia Molina-WhyteFreelance
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