Following Kanye West’s pissy hissy fit at the Grammys – in which he said Beck did “not respect artistry” – Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson decided enough was enough. She posted an open letter of sorts on her Facebook, calling out Kanye West for being an immature, petty and spoiled child. It was awesome. Kanye hasn’t said anything about Shirley Manson publicly, but considering the backtracking he’s done in the month since the Grammys, I had assumed that he was actually feeling some regret. Guess not. Shirley Manson posted another Facebook open letter to “He who shall remain nameless” and I think we should assume that she’s talking to Kanye and that Kanye emailed her or something with another hissy fit:
Dear He who shall remain nameless,
It is with great sadness that I read your email today. Clearly you have forgotten or are just generally unaware, that in business it is always wise to be kind and respectful in your day to day dealings with other people. Especially those you have never met.
You just never know when you might meet that person who has been at the receiving end of your disrespect for indeed you may have to come on bended knee to that person later on down the line because they hold on to something of value that you need to get your greasy hands on. 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.
That some of us do not value ourselves by the number of mainstream “hits” we have enjoyed. That 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 or be having to hitch ourselves to the latest ,greatest, freshest sound in order to remain “on top” . There are some of us who just like to live the way WE see fit. Make the music WE feel passionate about. Music that feels authentic to who we are and where we are in our lives. 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.
Clearly you are unable to wrap your head around the idea that some musicians actually prefer NOT having to perform on Children’s TV shows. 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-tty , 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.
SO allow me to make my choices as I see fit without having to endure your childish and un-evolved criticism. As you so rightly pointed out, there are plenty of talented people in the world who will sell their grannies to serve your desires.
So now then sir, that all said,
Go F#CK yourself.
[From Shirley Manson’s Facebook]
I think Manson is, like, 95% justified and righteous here. The one little negative quibble I have is that the only reason she incurred Kanye’s “nasty little barbs” is because she called him out so thoroughly in a public forum. And now she’s acting like she’s so taken aback that he might have something equally negative to say about her, to her (privately). So, that part of it is just “too cute by half.” Otherwise, yes, she’s on point. Kanye is a sad famewhore clown and Shirley is happy where she is.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
I would rather listen to Shirley’s music than Kanye’s.
Me too
I have mixed feelings. It was a great letter and he deserves every word, and I agreed with her, but her need to make it public seems a little petty, and she doesn’t have a lot of room to talk about being kind and respectful after she posted her first open letter.
I think her open letter had to be public since the offense was public.
Sometimes, people need to be publicly shamed to evaluate their ways.
I was referring to her second letter, sorry. Agree it was ok the first time.
I get what you are saying but just about everything Kanye does is In a public forum. He takes it to the streets, rants and raves like a looney regardless of whether what he’s saying is even the truth and not many people call him out for it. She didn’t even name names here but what she said – if it’s about him, is spot on.
Agreed! I say this a a Shirley Mason Lover Kanye Kardashian hater
What is the point of reference for being petty?
Yes, Kanye West’s antics are cute and his interviews are sometimes interesting but he is a supremely hypocrite individual. Beck, Taylor Swift, Shirley, all these people have achieved more or less success through their own power not by using the public’s weakness for watching famewhores being famewhores. Kanye West attached himself and continues to shove down our throats the Kardashians. It’s not enough for him to marry into the family, he wants the world to bow down and accept that these people are amazing. I liked Kanye, but I don’t like the shit he’s feeding me. At this point, the Kardashians look better than Kanye because they at least admit what they are, while Kanye is trying to wrap the shit in golden covers.
This is the behavior standard that Kanye West has established for himself. His private letter doesn’t earn him any free points. He’s an ass, he should be treated like one.
Well, maybe petty isn’t the best word. I totally hear you about Kanye, and agree with your every word. I don’t have a problem with her calling him out publicly the first time. But he responded privately, and I (sort of) feel like she could have responded in kind. Her making her response public seems sort of attention seeking.
But what does it say about him that instead of issuing a public response to her initial public letter, be it respectfully agreeing or disagreeing with her, he felt the need to privately send her (what I assume was) a nasty, probably obscene ranting note saying “I’m awesome and famous and you’re a nobody”.
He obviously didn’t have the balls to do that publicly. She does.
Yikes! Please don’t anybody think I’m defending Kanye or any of his actions. That would kill me. Well, slight exaggeration, but believe me, I’m sure he wrote her a really nasty, mean email in response that said something like “I’m everything and you’re nothing.” My choice would probably have been to just ignore it, but a lot of good points have been made about why it was ok for her to respond publicly.
@ALS -Spot on!
You know nothing about Kanye-I agree with your point about his trying too hard to prove the Kardashians are worthy of praise but Kanye didn’t need them. He was an established artist/producer on his own waaay before the Kardashian plague. He’s been producing since 2002. I don’t hate Kanye but I have lost a lot of respect for him since he hooked up with that family.
My speculation here: I feel like the reason he emailed her privately is because he had some very negative things to say to her In response to her open letter and had he done so publicly, it would have been a glorious PR disaster. I bet he would have called her out publicly if could have more eloquently phrased his rebuttal (like she did to him).
Totally agree. Egos like Kanye need to be publicly cut down to size and I’m glad Shirley has the balls to do it.
Agree 100% with your speculation. And I believe Shirley is actually being kind by not publicly releasing his private letter to her. If she wanted to really nail his balls to the wall, she would make it public.
I am guessing that his private reply to her was really mean and petty to have inspired her to make her 2nd letter public. Shirley Manson may not be a shrinking violet, but she’s also not one for stunt.
I completely agree with this. His message to her must have been completely out of line or he would have gladly made it public.
I think the letter is more important (and perhaps meant) for music fans. It’s good to be reminded that there are musicians like her in the world. And not everyone seeks out fame. Some people *really* just do it for the music (or acting, art, etc), and we should be reminded of that apparently forgotten fact.
I agree – she’s getting a lot of attention from this. No other reason for it.
Honestly, she’s being just as obnoxious as he is at this point.
Not even close!
yeah…NO.
No. Had she really taken this public and been petty and wanted to make this a famewhore issue, she would’ve published what the nasty man wrote to her in the email she references. She didn’t do that. She could have.
Not even close, man. Not even close.
Maybe she chose to post it publicly because she wanted to be sure that he didn’t just hit delete when he saw her response in his inbox.
Awesome!!
I second that!
Yes, awesome!
“or be the loudest clown in town” – yup sounds about right. Hahaha! I love everything about her letter.
Now I’m just waiting for Jonathan cheesehead, oops I mean cheban to come climbing out of his hole and make some snide comment about Shirley.
Yeah that phrase won me over too. That’s his new title in my mind.
She is great with words. That phrase fits him so perfectly.
That phrase cracked me up too. She’s so on target with everything she said if she was writing about/to Kanye.
We have no idea who she is talking to/about! Why would Kanye mention performing on a kid’s show to her? Has he ever done a kid’s show?
That’s what I thought too, and, has he hitched himself to every new talent? I don’t really follow his career, but I’m skeptical that this is about Kanye.
As for Shirley, if someone emailed her privately, I see no reason to take it to the public, whether she named the person or not. I think she seems to feel the need to tell the world about her choices as an artist. No justifications needed.
This. People just want to demonize Kanye every chance they get. To me, it sounds like she was talking about an industry person that was pressuring her/the band to sell out. I highly doubt Kanye would email her with an angry response, especially when he apologized to Beck already.
Yeah, agreed, I also think this letter has precisely dick all to do with Kanye. Besides, she already named him in the last letter, if this one was for him, I don’t see why she wouldn’t name him in it, too. Not about Kanye.
Well,we are talking about Kim’s Kurrent Husband here; I can totally see him sending N email behaving like a mean girl in high school.. keep in mind he hasn’t even said anything about the first letter.
Yeah, not sure she’s talking about Kanye this time as she mentions this person represents artists’ rights? So, more an agent (Jay Z maybe??)?
Jay Z? Lol what?
Or maybe the person she’s talking about isn’t famous at all and is someone behind the scenes. Hollywood execs and business people are often worse than the actual celebs themselves.
Hmmm…yes it does seem as there are some people who want to demonize Kayne but then there are some people who want to overlook every rant and every put down of people dude doesn’t know but thinks he is better then. I think with Kanye’s continued rants and self-importance makes it easy to demonize especially when he speaks all stupid like Bey has a picture of Kim on her wall while recording. Please. I think she has every right to respond to the king of patter in any way she wants. After all we don’t know what this little man is sounding off about her to his circle of friends and those who seem to adore him. It is about time someone held him accountable for his pushiness and thinking he knows all.
Maybe she means MTV awards shows? Things like that? This has to be about Kanye, it may not all add up to us but I have no problem believing a private letter from Kanye wouldn’t make much sense, nothing he ever says publicly does so why would he be coherent in private.
I agree, I think she might mean the VMAs or other awards shows like Teen Choice, etc.
Thank you, Shirley! KW is a colossal asshole. His brand is garbage. Watching him in that video with Paul McCartney and Rhi leaves me feeling uncomfortable. He needs psychological help.
She originally responded to a PUBLIC action of Kanye’s. She was public ally saying, he doesn’t speak for all musicians, his behaviour is NOT condoned.
She’s real good at reading…
Yeah this second one was uncalled for and attention grabbing on her part. The email was private. And now she’s just bandwagon bashing Kanye. Not that he doesn’t deserve it, but it’s hypocritical to publish this second letter publically.
Maybe, but its Kanye. Did she set a good example for him, no. Is it a little hypocritical, yes. but I have a hard time getting upset about it, as it is directed at one of the biggest fame whores in the industry. He looks bad with or without her help. no amount of protecting him from public scrutiny is going to change anybody’s mind at this point.
We don’t know for certain that this is even about Kanye.
I disagree that it is bandwagon bashing Kanye. If this is in response to an email to her from Kanye, that isn’t jumping on a trend.
Do you guys think one of the reasons Kanye wanted Kim is the fact that her whole family is the biggest bunch of fame wh*res in the history of the world?
He doesn’t have the talent to maintain his “genius”. Like Madonna, he has to rely on controversy and famewhoring to remain in the public eye.
…and so deserves a public shaming, imho.
Well for decades controversy wasn’t the only thing. Madonna also relied on amazing concerts, a tireless performer on tour, and for people like me, that continued to love much of her musical output up until, depending on the fan, 2008 or 2012. And she really created some amazing music videos all the way up until 2000, with a few great ones after that. She didn’t stay in the industry for three decades only because of controversy, sorry. She has a great disocraphy for pop fans and electronica pop fans and dance music fans.
@Jayna Thank you. This +1! Madonna has remained on top and been an inspiration and trailblazer–who many young “singers” have liberally “borrowed” from over the years. Yes, she herself is the queen of “borrowing” but she is also an original artist who has sacrificed *a lot* in her life to speak truth and do what no one else would do especially when it comes to sexuality. Now as she gets older, people forget or don’t take the time to educate themselves. She was so revolutionary for a lot of us as young women growing up…she made being ourselves and being sexual okay…
It kind of sounds like he played the “I am more successful than you” card, in which case, if true he did, then the response of “nasty little barbs” is ok by me.
Of course, anyone who takes Kayne down is ok by me. I try very hard not to name call, etc, but I do loathe this man. After the “everyone stand up” concert fiasco, I have absolutely no patience for him, his brand, any of it.
She came around to tear your little world apart!
Preach, Shirley!
She said, “You are in the business of representing artists’ interests.” Is she talking about Kanye? When I first read it I took it to mean someone in the business part of the music industry.
I took it as a reference to Kanye always “defending” Beyonce and saying Bey should win more awards.
Part of his epic post grammys rant to MTV was something about defending artistry thus implying that Beck wasn’t an artist.
I didn’t think of it that way. I can see that could be the case, though, because the rest fits Kanye in the post.
They both seem like childish, stupid, egomaniacs to me.
you take that back! you take that back about Shirley! *waves fists* 😉
I dunno. Doesn’t sound like she’s bashing Kanye in this letter. It sounds like some big time music producer.
Ugh, Kanye.SM must have gotten a lovely missive from him-she should have published it. I can only imagine…
Kanye is a producer. He has his own label and group of artists. I think his label is called GOOD Music. Big Sean I believe is one of his artists.
I have no idea whether this is directed towards Kanye or not but Guuuuuuuuurl! *grabs popcorn* (btw I like Shirley a lot)
“Nasty little barbs” : his Rolling Stone cover with a crown of thorns.
Holy Grail : his project with Jay-Z, magna Carta holy grail.
Shirley Manson does not have a lot of room to talk. I had to unfollow her Facebook posts as she would often rant in the most ridiculous selfrighteous way, missing the mark, misrepresenting opinions etc pp.
THANK YOU! She is worse than Chrissy Tiegen.
Social media is such a crutch….studies show that “self-disclosure is strongly associated with increased activation in brain regions that form the mesolimbic dopamine system, including the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area,” In other words, it’s like an addictive drug that makes you feel high when you know your thoughts and opinions will be seen by thousands of people – *coughleanncough*
Too bad most of these thoughts and opinions are of little to no value, only a way of venting and spewing anger and revenge like nasty little kids…. *sighs and goes for another coffee*
Truly. It’s like it didn’t really happen until someone else sees it and validates it.
How do these people even get each other’s email addresses?
That’s what I was thinking too!
Shirley said on Twitter that this isn’t about Kanye or any celebrity, it’s about an industry insider.
it’s not about Kanye. she just posted an update on her Facebook.
I guessed this was about an anonymous industry insider and not about Kanye even before she clarified as such on Facebook. I’ve been following her career for almost two decades and she has been very candid about her frustration with record company executives and their ilk in continually trying to push her into performing music and acting a certain way that was not to her taste or desire. She has spoken of this on a few occasions, most recently before this incident in regards to her (defunct) solo album.