We are all in agreement that the One Love Manchester concert was an overwhelming success that saw some of the world’s most popular artists come together for a higher cause.
Indeed, criticisms were few and far between – but Oasis star Noel Gallagher was at the centre of the greatest one.
With the band’s iconic song Don’t Look Back In Anger becoming the poignant anthem of the tragedy, eyebrows were raised when Noel didn’t turn up to perform. No one was more annoyed, it seems, than his brother, Liam.
Liam took to Twitter to pay tribute to the people of Manchester following his own performance, and to condemn Noel for holidaying with his family while the event was taking place.
Manchester id like to apologise for my brothers absence last night very disappointed stay beautiful stay safe LG x
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) June 5, 2017
Noels out of the fucking country weren't we all love get on a fucking plane and play your tunes for the kids you sad fuck
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) June 5, 2017
“Manchester, I’d like to apologise for my brother’s absence last night. Very disappointed. Stay beautiful, stay safe,” he tweeted.
He added: “Noel’s out of the f***ing country. Weren’t we all, love? Get on a f***ing plane and play your tunes for the kids, you sad f***.”
Well, it has since emerged that we were only getting one side of the story. Indeed, according to one columnist, Noel had already made an extremely generous gesture to the people of Manchester.
Simon Kelner, of i newspaper, wrote: “I happen to know that he [Noel] has been donating all profits from sales of the song since the bombing to the We Love Manchester campaign.
.@NoelGallagher has donated all profits from sales of ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ to the We Love Manchester campaign https://t.co/1JzBBmZB0n pic.twitter.com/S2kaOnYGTb
— i newspaper (@theipaper) June 6, 2017
“Criticism of a lack of empathy for his home city’s plight is misguided.”
While Noel has yet to break his silence on the story, he appeared to confirm Kelner’s claims by simply tweeting a link to it on his official Twitter account.
According to Kelner, claims of Noel’s indifference to his home city’s tragedy are par for the course in 2017.
“In some ways, this is a salutary tale of our times. Social media makes everything about PR,” he mused.
“Who’s winning the battle of hearts and minds? We see it in every aspect of public life, and particularly in politics. The truth, of course, is usually much more complex and multi-layered.”
Millions of pounds have been raised so far to help the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing, and all whose lives were touched by the tragedy.
