Bob Geldof has blasted the snowflakes who moan about his Band Aid hit ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ making celebrities out to be “white saviours”.
Geldof brought together the biggest names in music for recordings of the charity single in 1984, 1989, 2004 and 2014 to raise money for those facing famine in Ethiopia, and also organised a huge dual-venue benefit show in 1985, which featured performances from the likes of Queen, David Bowie and Madonna, and was later repeated in 2005.
And the musician and activist – who penned the song with Midge Ure – has insisted he has no time for people who believe it’s insulting to Africans.
He fumed to the Daily Star newspaper: “I couldn’t give a fuck – it’s nonsense.
“I work every day on Band Aid, so go fuck yourself!
“Criticise ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ as a sh** pop song or whatever.
“But saying lines like: ‘There won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time’, aren’t right?
“Well there won’t be snow in Antarctic or Africa this Christmas – Extinction Rebellion will tell you that, so spare me.
“That song has entered the culture, along with the carols.”
Geldof also gave his thoughts on today’s pop stars and admitted that the focus these days is on “craft” and “ability”, whilst he joked he’s only got “attitude” to offer.
He said: “I miss pop that has ideas.
” I want to bang my head at how brilliant a hook each line of an Ed Sheeran song has.
“Adele’s voice?
“Oh my God. I wish I could write songs as well as George Ezra and I wish I had a voice that good.
“Pop these days is all about craft, talent and ability.
“As I have none of those things, I have to go with attitude.”
Despite the money and awareness raised for those facing famine in Ethiopia – and the raft of huge stars lending their talents over the years – Geldof previously insisted it’s not a source of personal pride.
He explained: “It’s just life you know. It’s just tiring, I’m tired. It’s really crap having to ring people up and they’re going, ‘for fuck’s sake it’s Geldof’.
“And I don’t mind when people say no, there’s no pressure, literally no pressure. At a certain point it gets to the point where if you’re out, then you’re not happening.”
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