This ‘cancel culture’ is strangling society, says Nick Cave

ROCK star Nick Cave has condemned the ‘cancel culture’ that tries to silence all but the most politically correct opinions.

He criticised ‘refusal to engage with uncomfortable ideas’ as ‘bad religion run amuck’.

Australian-born Cave, 62, made the comments in the newsletter on his Red Hand Files website after he was asked what he thinks of ‘cancel culture’.

‘Political correctness has grown to become the unhappiest religion in the world,’ he wrote.

‘Its once honourable attempt to reimagine our society in a more equitable way now embodies all the worst aspects that religion has to offer (and none of the beauty) – moral certainty and self-righteousness shorn even of the capacity for redemp

‘It’s bad religion run amuck’

tion. It has become, quite literally, bad religion run amuck. Cancel culture’s refusal to engage with uncomfortable ideas has an asphyxiating effect on the creative soul of a society.’

He added: ‘A force that finds its meaning in the cancellation of these difficult ideas hampers the creative spirit of a society and strikes at the complex and diverse nature of its culture.’

Cave’s notable records include a Kylie Minogue duet called Where The Wild Roses Grow and last year’s critically acclaimed album Ghosteen with his band The Bad Seeds – written after his 15- year- old son Arthur’s death in a fall from high cliffs after taking LSD.

His comments come weeks after more than 100 high-profile cultural figures including JK Rowling, Noam Chomsky and Gloria Steinem signed an open letter which claimed the spread of ‘censoriousness’ was leading to ‘a vogue for public shaming and ostracism’.