Music
13 Mar 13

The Script on Rihanna and Chris Brown

She has "a certain responsibility" as a role model, Mark Sheehan tells Hot Press.

Ever the straight talker, The Script's Mark Sheehan has given his own frank take on the media hysteria that still surrounds Rihanna and Chris Brown.

Sheehan was in conversation with our own Craig Fitzpatrick for their cover feature in the new issue of Hot Press.

On the way Rihanna has conducted herself, the guitarist and producer with the massively popular Dublin trio says:
“If I knew my audience were out there and quite young, I wouldn’t be an advocate of that at all. Also, I think there’s a point as an artist where you stand up, look at your audience and go, ‘Holy fuck, she’s 14 years old, should I be jumping around in my thong right now’. You have a certain responsibility at the end of the day. I enjoy a few drinks, for example, but I wouldn’t be out there telling young kids to drink. I think you should drink responsibly.”

However, he concedes that he finds it difficult to criticise any artist, saying:
"Sometimes people are going through stuff. She’s public, so that’s probably why she’s doing what she’s doing, letting her hair down with the press surrounding her.”

Last year, Script singer Danny O'Donoghue told Hot Press that he admired The Original Rudeboys rejecting the offer of a Chris Brown support slot. In the new issue, out tomorrow, Mark expresses a different opinion:

"I think you have to stand up and play the gig. Put your music in front of fans. Let them decide about you and then get the fuck out of there. You don’t have to talk to Chris Brown. You don’t have to be mates with him, you don’t have to drink with him. Get in and out. If it was my sister I would go to town on him. I wouldn’t want to look the man in the eye, I wouldn’t like to drink with him or be his best mate, but at the same time it’s got nothing to do with me.”

In a wide-ranging interview just before their six massive Irish dates, Sheehan also talks touring, the fall of HMV and being serenaded by Paul McCartney.

You can read it all when the new issue of Hot Press hits shelves Thursday, March 14. Order this issue