Kelly Clarkson can move out of the news cycle now. There’s a new controversy that’s causing uproar on twitter.
Cee Lo Green sang John Lennon’s beloved “Imagine” on NBC’s New Years Eve Show last night, right before the ball dropped.
Not realizing that effing with John Lennon fans would be a very bad idea indeed, the Voice coach changed the lyrics of the song from “Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too” to “Nothing to kill or die for, And all religion’s true.”
Uh. NO. The lyric change makes no sense. “Nothing to kill or die for” is in reference to religion often being at the bottom of violent conflicts. In a perfect world there would be “No religion” to battle over. And anyway, messing with the lyrics of an iconic song is never a good idea. Cee Lo has been famous long enough. How could he have not anticipated a backlash?
Cee Lo tweeted almost immediately after his performance, “Yo I meant no disrespect by changing the lyric guys! I was trying to say a world were u could believe what u wanted that’s all.”
The backlash was immediate, and not pretty. Like Kelly Clarkson before him, Cee Lo made a bad situation worse by jumping into the fray. A sample:
@maleficat: fuck you, @CeeLoGreen. sing it right or don’t sing it at all.
@CeeLoGreen: @maleficat fuck you! Happy new year
@occupylvcampout: @CeeLoGreen you don’t change the words to one of the best songs to what you believe go to hell fat boy I wish you a heart attack #bigfail
@CeeLoGreen: @Occupylvcampout wow and u sir are upholding respect talking like that?
@visibletroll: @CeeLoGreen Don’t fuck with Lennon. Fuck with ANY other writer. So Mr. Green… FUCK YOU and FUCK YOUR SHITTY ASS COVER TOO
@CeeLoGreen: @VisibleTroll dude fuck you too and fuck that cover too fuck this conversation too fuck it all
He later deleted most of his tweets. There is more at Huffington Post.
ETA: Agree with people in comments. All parties involved in this little spat are totally missing the message of the song they are arguing over: “Imagine all the people living life in peace…A brotherhood of man…Imagine all the people sharing all the world” Uh. F*ck you?
This isn’t the first time Cee Lo has gotten into trouble on twitter. After a critic dissed a live performance, Cee Lo called her a “man hating lesbian” on twitter: “I respect your criticism, but be fair! People enjoyed last night! I’m guessing you’re gay? And my masculinity offended you? Well f**k you!”
Cee Lo later apologized after a backlash from the LGBT community. (Mashable)
Watch the performance below, beginning at about the 4 minute mark.
http://youtu.be/ourduRjODPA
