Elton and Sam Smith

Didn't Sam Smith give a speech at the Oscars about being the first gay man to receive an Oscar? Which must have been news to Elton.

I wouldn’t be surprised if EJ did it deliberately to give SS more publicity. Even his fans had forgotten him

Sadly no one ever wants them.

Can unwanted musical gifts be regifted or is that bad form?

I read that SS was supposedly there as a representative of the UK.

Oh come on, what have we done to offend the rest of the world so to unleash this as our gift to the world. Although I suppose it is a captive audience desperate for entertainment.

Do these people really think Elton John off all people gives a shit?

Someone should tell them not to send a they to do a man's job.

The Twitterati's patience for this kind of stuff certainly seems to have decreased recently.

"Sam who?" would probably be the best response if you really want to twist the ego knife.

I liked it better when I didn’t know who you were.

..is my favourite.

Thank you to all the people who are prepared to put in the time on Twatter holding pricks like this up to ridicule.

I can't spend five minutes on that site without feeling the need to deep clean my mind.

@nauticant
Sam Smith is getting slaughtered in the replies to SS’s tweet of that photo.

Some great comments, eg.:

• I was diagnosed with adenomyosis 3 weeks ago after 28 years of debilitating pain, periods that have trapped me at home and secondary infertility that has damaged my mental health; that is womanhood, not putting on a cheap wig and lipstick
• Women are a costume? A skin suit? Misogynist.
• If this was two straight guys they would be getting slated for "literally killing trans people".

And less seriously:

• Non-binary you say Sam... looking pretty manly here I must say.
• I think it’s the feet that give it away, had me fooled I tell ya
• Hinge & Bracket
• Hinge & Bracket had more style
• I liked it better when I didn’t know who you were.
• Which one of you is Les Dawson?
• Just because the bees are disappearing doesn’t mean you can’t wax!
• I see this and I think of silence of the lambs
• I’m coming round to the idea of them having a pronoun of their own. Any suggestions of words they can claim? My list is long but would probably get me banned.
• If you combine four of the letters from 'she' and 'it' you get a nice pronoun for these lads.

As other posters have stated - This expectation of ‘they / them’ pronouns is nonsense. We are all linguistically socialised from babies to refer to males as he and females as her. This cannot be undone even if people try - so it sets up everyone to fail.

It is as natural as saying the sky is green.

The phrase 'not enough real things to worry about' comes to mind. Honestly, when your main focus in life is trying to control other people's language so they are obedient to maintaining your very special choices about yourself...…..

life is too short for this kind of narcissism. It's not an LGBT thing, it's a twat thing.

I hope you can see me like I see myself now.

No, I can't.

And you do not have any control, nor any right nor expectation of control, over my perceptions.

Not quite sure how to put this gently. For the kind of individuals reacting that way I'm not convinced that they're capable of understanding "this is not the time to be centering yourself/this person/whatever abstract idea you're devoted to" as a concept. To most people coronavirus has created a shift in priorities into emergency mode where a whole lot of things can wait until after that's been tackled, but there's a segment of the population who because of narcissism or immaturity or whatever it is creating that effect for whom it's business as usual and nothing, even a global pandemic, matters more than (insert obsession here).

What is worrying is that Sam’s fans reacted this way during a fundraiser for coronavirus.
Exactly - an event that should have been entirely about essential workers, but they had to make it all about them.

To be fair to Sam Smith, this is from the BBC website when they came out as non binary:

‘They wrote: "I understand there will be many mistakes and mis-gendering but all I ask is you please please try. I hope you can see me like I see myself now. Thank you."’

What is worrying is that Sam’s fans reacted this way during a fundraiser for coronavirus. Surely that was more important than criticising Elton for misgendering? There is something going on here about fans being so enmeshed with the people they admire that they can’t see themselves as separate entities. The same happens to JK Rowling whenever she tries to express her personal opinions.

I expect Sam Smith was really pleased about the publicity, as well as any feelings of altruism.

Smith appears to be on the unofficial must not be criticized list so no doubt this thread will go.

I’m surprised this person has maintained the spotlight for so long. I don’t hear anything authentic in the music, notes are hit yes, but I don’t feel it. Plus I find it whiny. I guess other people must enjoy it.

Elton's diva moments were certainly more entertaining! Though those around him at the time may feel just a tad differently about that.

Maybe Sam could just stop being a precious, attention seeking drama llama?

Sam's not fit to lick Eltons platform boots on both the diva and music front.

Maybe Sam could pin an update thingy to Sam's twitter profile, like "my pronouns this week are as follows"

If Sam Smith keeps changing how he defines himself /themselves, how does Sam expect the rest of us to keep up?
The comment above about exerting control is very true

They’ll be gunning for Eurovision next.... oh wait

If I, age 46, have an eye-rolling irritation instinctive response to all the pronoun drama I can only imagine how tedious it must seem to be people 20+ years older, especially the ones who lived through the AIDS crisis in a very up close and personal way.

Pretty much any milestone Smith would like to claim, Elton already hit back in the 70s or 80s. Sorry, kid, you're a couple of generations too late (and also Elton John is legit talented, however much of a mess of a person he may have been in his younger days).

Maybe this is karma for SS claiming he (as he was then) was the first openly gay man to win an Oscar in 2016... despite fact that Elton and others already had. This might be the last meaningful run-in Elton had with Sam... now he’s expected to be psychic and know that this person who was “proud to be an openly gay man” in 2016 is now offended if you call them ‘he’?