In a video posted by Adam Lambert, Sam Smith while listening to Michael Jackson was heard saying, “I don’t like Michael Jackson, but this is a good song.”
While Smith, 26, may not have thought twice about what he said, the internet certainly did, with hundreds quickly taking to social media to slam the singer and point out that his song “Writing’s on the Wall,” from the 2015 James Bond movie “Spectre,” sounded like Jackson’s “Earth Song.”
Adam Lambert accidentally posts a video of Sam Smith saying:
‘I don’t like Michael Jackson, but this is a good song’ pic.twitter.com/Rhw1lnA5O0
— Music News Facts (@musicnewsfact) August 10, 2018
One of the many people angered by Smith’s comments was the R&B legend, and former Jackson girlfriend, Stephanie Mills who tore into him on Instagram.
“Don’t come for MICHAEL JACKSON when you wish you have sold as many records and you wish you were the King of Pop like he was,” Mills, 61, wrote. “I’m so tired of you people studying our music, and studying our artist and claiming that you don’t like our music.”
Jackson’s nephew TJ also weighed in on the matter, tweeting, “Sam Smith made a career on singing R&B/soul music. So to look into a camera and disregard one of its pillars is ignorant, disrespectful and arrogant. Everyone has opinions but @samsmithworld don’t disparage a soul pioneer when they helped paved the way for you and your music.”
He added that it was fine if Smith didn’t like Jackson’s music, the issue was that he made the comments on the video, whether or not he expected that video to go public.
“Anyone can like ANYONE they want,” he tweeted. “What bothers me is SS is a popular SOUL artist. So when he looks into ANY camera there is a good chance what is said will become public 1day. And for HIM to disrespect ANY classic soul Motown/Stax/etc artist publicly is arrogant. Period.
