It’s not news that snarky, if not downright mean, is the trend in internet humor nowadays.
In attempt at displaying their own original brand of comedic wit, social media users have turned to firing barbs and insulting comments in reaction to celebrity news, announcements or social media posts. Both celebrities and fans have pushed back against the movement, but are usually met with comments about free speech or the fact that comedy is meant to be offensive.
Sinéad O’Connor became the latest social media casualty on Tuesday after announcing on Facebook that she will no longer be performing her most famous song, “Nothing Compares 2 U.” O’Connor explained that she has been trained as a singer to never sing a song that she doesn’t identify with emotionally and feels she can no longer bring effective emotion to the song she released in 1990. “If I were to sing it just to please people, I wouldn’t be doing my job right, because my job is to be emotionally available,” she wrote in the post. “I’d be lying. You’d be getting a lie.”
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The reaction among O’Connor’s Facebook fans has been largely positive. Many users responded to the post with words of gratitude for the song, respect for O’Connor’s honesty and requests for other tunes they would like for her to keep performing. Some fans expressed dismay that they would never again hear the song they loved so much live again, but managed to refrain from strong language or rude comments.
Over on Twitter, however, the discussion has taken a completely different turn.
Some users have taken to the social media site to make it known that since they don’t care, obviously no one else does either.
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https://twitter.com/niche/status/577899813984976896
Singer Sinead O’Connor says she's emotionally incapable of ever performing her cover of Prince's ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’. Okay, Bye, Felicia.
— The Señor Loco Show (@LosTiteresTV) March 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/JOAQUINxBERNAL/status/577912015580053504
Other Twitter users took their turn as stand-up comedians and offered some original one-liners on the topic, questioning O’Connor’s relevance.
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Sinead O'Connor told her fans that she's done singing "Nothing Compares 2 U." No word yet on how 2015 O'Connor got word to her fans in 1990.
— Robert Schultz (@_RobertSchultz) March 17, 2015
Sinead O'Connor to stop performing 'Nothing compares 2 u'. In other news Sinead O'Connor is still perfoming?
— Inappropriate Uncle (@Inapprop_Uncle) March 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/JackShellWYCD/status/577894702873243649
https://twitter.com/seanpcurtis/status/577907655450169345
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Whether you’re a fan of O’Connor’s work or not, “Nothing Compares 2 U” is celebrated, imitated and often referenced in pop culture. It’s also hard to call a person’s relevance into question when their announcement about a song that was on the charts in 1990 is trending worldwide in 2015.
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