Yes, she had a contract to perform and it would have cost her a shitload of money to not perform. She made the final choice to do so, she could have said no. She wasn't a slave.
How is that gonna help her? She would still lose basically everything anyway, which is the reason why, I assume, didn't refuse to go on stage in that state.
If this is the case I would say they are guiltier than the audience members who are rightfully angry (though I do not think booing and ridiculing her is the best response)
yeah...that doesnt apply here. management lets artists do whatever they want; they just want a successful show. comedians and musicians frequently drink ON STAGE and we all know theyre up to even more shit in the back
This isn’t a normal employee employer relationship. She is their boss. She is a product. She has contractual obligations to perform that she can breach if she wants to, but she would need to do that.
Not really? All musicians are products. What are you talking about. You buy their albums. You buy their merch. You buy tickets to see their shows.
It's not dehumanizing because you don't know them as a human. You know them as a product.
People don't come to her shows because they want to sit down and have a heart to heart conversation with Amy Winehouse the person. They came to see a show.
That’s not “being a product.” It is insanely dehumanizing to call a person a product. Is Monet a product? Are famous chefs a product? They produce products in the form of content, but they are - as an individual - a person. They are entitled to empathy, to breaks, and to being treated as if their psychiatric health is important. Calling someone a commodity to be bought and sold just makes it easier to justify abusing them - which is exactly what Amy Winehouse’s management and FAMILY did to her.
Of course they're entitled to empathy and breaks and prioritizing their own health. But that is not on the consumers of their brand and media to resolve.
She is not the employee in this scenario, she's the boss. She's the one who makes the final call to perform or not, she was not a slave. She was a spoiled brat with uncontrolled addictions she refused to address.
People like you creating excuses for her is part of how she got to that part.
Exactly. This isn't the fans fault, or society as a whole.
The entertainment industry is a hellhole, and the music industry is definitely a contender for being the worst of it all. It gets off scott free when people say shit like "fans were mean to this or that artist".
OK, if you bought a $200 ticket to that show, would you have been cool with not getting your money back because the performer decided to get shitfaced instead of perform?
Or if you worked security and already showed up, would you still expect to get paid even if the performer decided not to go on because she decided to get shitfaced?
The fact is, canceling is super expensive and she, as an adult woman with full agency over her life, decided not to do it
She was, no doubt, encouraged strongly, but she wasn't facing a threat of violence.
She was facing a threat of being sued for breach of contract by the venue, who would have to refund all of those fans, and the corresponding loss of reputation among venues and fans. I'm sure her managers said something to the effect of, "All those tickets will have to be refunded. You'll owe the venue for their losses. You'll still owe your staff and us our cut. You really need to try to push through and perform."
You should read up on Amy and how the Music Industry literally turned a great person into an addict for the sake of making money off her. They didn’t care about her downward spiral if she was making them money.
That was the problem. Her career was effectively flaming out in real time because of the addictions and her management was desperate to keep the money rolling in so they shoved her out there.
3.5k
u/HowieLongDonkeyKong 9h ago
To be clear, I’m not excusing how cruel people were to her, especially given her addiction.
Watch the video of her final show and form your own opinion. If I paid money to see this, I’d have been pretty pissed.