Dick of the Week
Elton John Plays Israel, Rush Limbaugh’s Wedding. Moral Ambassador Or Shrewd Shill?
Amy Rose Spiegel :: Friday, June 18th, 2010 4:00 pm
Sir Elton John, you dick! John is fresh off of his second controversial performance in as many weeks. After playing Rush Limbaugh’s wedding for $1 million last week, which rightly drew harsh criticism from gay-rights advocates, he performed yesterday in Tel Aviv. Between songs, he took the time to lambast musicians who have recently canceled shows in Israel due to escalating international conflict. I don’t remember him courting quite so much controversy when my parents brought me to see him for my seventh birthday, but then again, I tried to remain impartial to the Israel-Palestine conflict back then. “Shalom, we are so happy to be back here! Ain’t nothing gonna stop us from coming, baby,” John said. He refuses to take the strong stance that many musicians have opted for recently in the wake of Israel’s little flotilla problem, saying, “Musicians spread love and peace, and bring people together. That’s what we do. We don’t cherry-pick our conscience.” He took a similar stance when playing Limbaugh’s wedding. His longtime partner, David Furnish, was quoted as saying that John took the job based on a philosophy that “life is about building bridges, not walls.” To which I say: BULLSHIT.
It seems that to Elton John, life is not about bridges or walls or any other architectural structure one can abuse in the name of a metaphor. It’s about money, which he has more than enough of. The only gesture that might save his decision to play Limbaugh’s wedding might be a public donation of all the profits to a pro-gay charity, followed by a public statement. I’m thinking something like, “RUSH, YOU SLOW-EYED, HOMOPHOBIC BUTT PRINCE, WE’RE ROBIN HOODING YOUR CASH” would be most appropriate.
As far as the Israel-Palestine business, I haven’t changed much since I was seven in that I still don’t want to comment on it. But I think that if John really wants to “spread love and peace,” he should extend that to his fellow musicians and respect their personal and political beliefs when it comes to this incredibly delicate and emotionally involved crisis. His so-called message is inherently hypocritical, which makes it easy to see it for the transparency that it is, and that’s really disappointing coming from someone I thought was an icon of altruism and goodwill.
