14 DAY TRIAL // Russell Brand is certainly not the man to mince his words, even when he knows for a fact that his jokes might be misunderstood and could possibly offend. Speaking recently with Rolling Stone, Brand said he’d save the music industry by having pop stars do heroin, overdose and die, thus spare the world of hearing their horrible music. This statement has been labeled the best example of “mindless idiocy,” the Daily Mail informs.
Brand, a former heroin addict himself and a recovering alcoholic who now dedicates much of his time (and money too) to helping youths overcome their addictions, said that he’d apply the natural law of selection to teenyboppers by having them do heavy drugs. Simple logic would say that many of them would overdose and die, which prompted Brand to say that, this way, only those who truly deserve to be stars would be left alive and, implicitly, record music.
As expected, the statement has drawn a lot of complaints, with many even saying that Brand was an idiot for making this joke (if a joke is what it was). “This is mindless idiocy. It smacks of a desperate attention seeking from Brand. It’s just ridiculous. You despair of these people – why would anyone say that?” David Raynes of the Drug Prevention Alliance says for the Mail. Nevertheless, there are those who also believe that Brand might have been joking.
“The top of the hit parade would look very different if teenyboppers were exposed to heroin. It would weed a lot of them out. I don't think Justin Bieber could handle Syd Barrett’s habit. You’re just not allowed into the studio until you first have had drug-addiction issues. It separates the men from the boys. A lot of people in their journey to rehab – overdose. And then, perhaps, we would be spared their awful music. It’s Darwinian. It’s the law of natural selection. There’s just too much turnover, too many transient pop stars. The music I listen to is mostly by the dead and dying, which is how I want my rock stars: Syd Barrett, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors,” Brand said for the music publication.
The fact that Russell Brand runs several charities dealing with teens with substance abuse issues and is even the patron of his own rehabilitation facility should be the first indication that he was joking. This, at least, is what Chip Somers, chief executive of Focus 12, makes of Brand’s statements.