Damon Albarn blamed the media when he insulted Taylor Swift. Bad move

In a recent interview with the LA Times, Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz fame) made some poorly received comments about Taylor Swift. Asked whether he believes many modern musicians are relying on “sound and attitude” (as opposed to simply good songs), Albarn told the interviewer, pop music critic Mikael Wood: “Name me someone who is not.”

Wood brought up Taylor Swift, telling Albarn: “She may not be to your taste, but Taylor Swift is an excellent songwriter.” To which Albarn shot back, boldly and, well, inaccurately: “She doesn’t write her own songs.”

The conversation went on. Wood disputed Albarn’s assertion, and Albarn claimed that co-writing credits “don’t count”, which missed the point since Swift has written more than 50 songs, including some of her biggest hits, on her own. Swift herself told Albarn on Twitter she writes all of her own songs, and that “you don’t have to like my songs but it’s really f***** up to try and discredit my writing”.

Albarn sensed he had messed up and apologised. “I totally agree with you. I had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait,” he wrote. “I apologise unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand.”

Which is all well and good except... “Clickbait”? Really? As plenty of people have pointed out on Twitter, it’s not clickbait if you say it. And the LA Times’ Q&A format leaves little room for doubt. Sure, the interview may have been edited for clarity, as they usually are. But the words are here. We can read them.

Albarn isn’t the first celebrity to do this – far from it. It’s a common (and perhaps, to a degree, understandable) impulse to blame the media after you’ve said something you regret. Those journalists, you know what they’re like! Always misquoting people, am I right?

It’s hard to say you were wrong, but it shouldn’t be impossible. In this case, Albarn had all the elements for a sincere apology. He actually wrote the words “I apologise”, for one. Do you know how many celebrities’ “apologies” don’t actually contain any expression of contrition? Many. It’s simply a shame that after that, Albarn still felt the need to deflect and blame the media where it wasn’t needed.

Fifteen years ago, this would have been merely annoying but manageable. But nowadays, I’m more allergic than ever to people seeking to pin their own shortcomings on the press. I live in the US, where for four years a president blamed the media for most things he didn’t like. He called us liars. He called us the enemy of the people. And at rallies and protests, his supporters began attacking the media, destroying their cameras and sound equipment and surrounding reporters from all different countries and outlets chanting aggressively about “fake news”.

It’s harder than ever to get people to agree on basic facts. Reality is now a matter of opinion. People live in the world they choose to believe in, and it’s sometimes impossible to get through to them. The last thing we need is more people routinely throwing journalists under the bus, feeding into the “lying media” narrative whenever they feel embarrassed.

As for interviewers? They were there. They know what you said. And they remember it all too well.

Yours,

Clémence Michallon

Senior people reporter