Laurence Fox
(Picture: Laurence Fox/ Twitter)There are few things that actor-turned-politician, anti-woke activist and all-around contrarian Laurence Fox won’t comment on – or, should we say, sing about.
His latest contribution to the general discourse is in response to the former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft, who has announced via Instagram that he will be pulling out of the Tramlines Festival as he opposed it being part of a “government testing programme.”
The 49-year-old musician added: “I had informed my agent months ago I wouldn’t be playing concerts with restrictions, the status of the festival was one thing when I signed up for it, but, sadly was forced to become something else. It must be an age thing but the words Government Experiment and Festival.”
As someone else who opposes Covid-19 restrictions, Fox immediately jumped on social media to show his support for Ashcroft. However, we doubt that Ashcroft will be too fond of the rendition that Fox has done of his song The Drugs Don't Work, which is terrible, even for his standards.
In honour of Richard Ashcroft who is pulling out of festivals which promote medical apartheid. https://t.co/eOmC7EBVtq pic.twitter.com/jY2yMygjwG
— Laurence Fox ✌🏼🇬🇧✌🏼 (@LozzaFox) July 5, 2021
We’re not gonna transcribe all of his lyrics but the gist of it is that he just doesn’t like masks and thinks they are ‘woke’. Not sure how stopping the spread of a deadly disease is ‘woke’ but there you go. He also labelled the pandemic a ‘medical apartheid’ which is a lot more problematic than the lyrics of his song.
Plaudits should go to Fox for at least attempting to make the lyrics work in his favour but he just ended up providing more fodder for people to mock him with.
APOLOGY: I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'd underestimated Laurence Fox. He's not just a bad actor, he's a bad musician too. https://t.co/H7BqodTRMU
— Steve Clark (@steveclarkuk) July 5, 2021
Year 7 level of musical talent https://t.co/L5yVlp1YAp
— viktor reznov (@zach2302) July 6, 2021
No, they just sing songs (absolutely fucking terribly) contrary to the science to show how truly unhinged their behaviour is https://t.co/8eoSVQE95Z
— AntiSmileyFaces (@anti_faces) July 6, 2021
https://t.co/7zW91KKVof pic.twitter.com/TLZWLaH20A
— Patrick Dalton (@shitlondon) July 6, 2021
Don't give up your day job, pal. Oh, hang on...
— Buddy Hell 🥤 (@buddy_hell) July 6, 2021
You should Google the word 'apartheid'. It isn't what you think it is. https://t.co/It7h6rBh9m
I’m sometimes asked by overseas visitors to explain the English word ‘plonker’. In future I’ll just direct them to this pristine example. https://t.co/3qD8PhiDOC
— Brian Tweedale (@BrianHTweed) July 5, 2021
I remixed it for you pic.twitter.com/AahyRkzktY
— Todd Bonzalez ✊ (@slowbones) July 5, 2021
Laurence Fox (tunelessly) reworking The Drugs Don't Work into "Your masks don't work / they just make you woke" is, well, peak Twitter 2021 https://t.co/Z6h6uy2oSn
— Harry Wallop (@hwallop) July 5, 2021
It's easy to criticise Lawrence Fox.
— The Corn Poppy 💙 (@phil_oates) July 5, 2021
That's it . It's easy, watch the video - he does all the heavy lifting. https://t.co/ZNhklq6wRP
— Tony Turner (@tonytiger67) July 5, 2021
Imagine being the Lidl Chris Martin. https://t.co/ZkSz3ZZihi
— Jimmy Hell (@PlayersTrombone) July 5, 2021
As if things aren't bad enough it's all inspired Lozza Fox to start singing again
— Otto English (@Otto_English) July 5, 2021
Still, it’s not as bad as the time when he gave one of the worst musical performances ever on live national television.
Back to Ashcroft and he is one of a number of older musicians from the ‘90s who have been apoplectic about Covid restrictions. The Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown said in February that he would never “sing to a crowd who must be vaccinated as a condition of attendance.” Meanwhile, Noel Gallagher has complained about having to wear a mask on public transport.
