It would be perfectly reasonable for Morrissey to argue for the presumption of innocence, though he’d probably be pilloried for it, as he seems to be for most things these days. However, the comments he made-at least in translation-do contain an unpleasant element of victim blaming, which would probably be enough on its own for Shirley Manson to feel justified in her scatalogical tweet.
More than this, though, he seems that he implying that Spacey and Weinstein’s accusers are lying for gain. Given that Spacey, in particular, seems to acknowledge that what that Star Trek chap said could’ve been true, this seems a bit careless. Now, there are several other celebrity accusees who have denied allegations and if he’d gone with one or more of these, then he’d have had more of a point. That he didn’t suggests that he was courting controversy and nothing more.
There are few things sadder in life than seeing a former hero needlessly turn himself into a pound shop Katie Hopkins.
Morrissey is doing what he's always done: He's speaking flippantly with certainty on subjects that he has not deeply investigated, and thus leaving himself vulnerable to a myriad of accusations that he will refuse ot parse. This is okay when certain subjects are not a apart of the mainstream world. When they are mainstream topics, then the risks become greater.
If you're going to be controversial, you need to be better prepared than he has been. He has experience. He knows how these things work, and yet, once again he stumbles clumsily into harm's way. This is presuming that none of it is intentional.
The suspicion that always surrounds social relationships, and alliances, is always going to be littered with landmines because people can't ever know what's inside someone's heart. They don't know if they should trust a person, and endorse them; only to find out later that they enabled a maniac, or at the very least, an embarrassing ally who tarnishes their brand, or their own sense of judgement .
This has always been a factor in social relationships. Social media seems to have created vulnerabilities that were already known, and accounted for in previous generations, but vulnerabilities that the "new" media have yet to adapt to.
People aren't becoming more sensitive., they're becoming more vulnerable.
In reality, Morrissey starts out with a reasonable perspective on the issue, and then you can almost feel the adrenaline mount as he expresses more, and more his ideas about something that he doesn't know all of the details of. It's then that you realize he's lost his usual inhibition, and feels emboldened by his own sense of logic. It's a common flaw in interview subjects who later regret being too revealing.
I think his star has stalled to such a degree that he doesn't feel that it will matter much to his profile; although, he has a legacy to protect. Of course, that's assuming he cares about his legacy.
I think there are good arguments for not putting much importance on a legacy. In that sense, it doesn't matter.