Sunday, June 08, 2008

Amy Winehouse: Drugs and playground racism

The News of the World has come into possession of another slew of photos of Amy Winehouse relaxing at home. Much of it, of course, is what you'd expect - what the snootier papers call "drug paraphernalia"; Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil swapping pills like Lady and The Tramp with the meatball; photos with large captions along the lines of

Foil used for taking drugs

The new element, and one which is going to make even Winehouse's biggest supporters feel a bit queasy, is some knockabout racism:
Amy, 24, and a pal called Sarah giggle as they sing a string of racist lines set to the tune of kiddies' favourite ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'.

Blake pretends NOT to record the unfolding events and eggs them on, saying: "Can we have a singsong of it?"

Sarah is at first reluctant but soon warms to the action as Amy enthusiastically sings:

"Blacks, Pakis, Gooks and Nips, Gooks and Nips!

"And deaf and dumb and blind and gay!"

She repeats the first line over again and on the word "Nips" Amy pulls her eyes into slits then pushes her boobs up in a gesture to her nipples.

It's hardly evidence of planning genocide - more on a par with what Beatlesgot up to when they thought nobody was listening, for "a laugh" more than from deep political conviction; the thin sliver of ill-advised humour being impossible to discern once it finds itself in the public domain. It doesn't make it any less nasty, brutish and thoughtless, though. And managing to cram in some lazy disability and queer bashing shows a special commitment to pissing your career away.


4 comments:

Simon said...

You kind of wonder why the Sundays are still running with the endless Amy videos and pictures well after the law has established that none of them are admissable as arrest-worthy evidence. That Winehouse is welded to the pipe is so ingrained as fact that even Mitch seems to have stopped bothering with his media salvos, and "but she's got a great voice" will surely soon enter legalese so often is it used as facile defence for supposed caring about her ("does the defendant plead guilty or Billie Holiday-like timbre?")

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

Ah, but they've been emboldened by Ian Blair's musings that perhaps they should be admissable, haven't they?

Jack said...

The papers don't care if their evidence is arrest-worthy evidence. In fact, I'm sure they'd be happier that it wasn't. That she's not getting arrested and banged up means there's a steady supply of material for them to splash with and sell papers. And it also allows them to slag off the police system.

Unknown said...

she could always wheel out the old defense 'but some of my best musical influences are black' (© Ron Atkinson, 2004)

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