James Blunt has written a scathing open letter to a British politician, branding him a "classist gimp" and a "prejudiced wazzock" for criticising the singer and Oscar-nominated actor Eddie Redmayne over their posh backgrounds.
In an interview last week, Member of Parliament (MP) and Shadow Culture Minister Chris Bryant appeared to take a swipe at public figures from privileged families, singling out the two stars for particular disapproval, saying, "I am delighted that Eddie Redmayne won (a Golden Globe), but we can't just have a culture dominated by Eddie Redmayne and James Blunt and their ilk."
Blunt has now aimed an angry tirade at Bryant in a foul-mouthed letter published by Britain's The Guardian, defending his upbringing and branding the MP "narrow-minded" for taking aim at "posh" people.
He writes, "You classist gimp... Everyone I met in the British music industry told me there was no way it would work for me because I was too posh. One record company even asked if I could speak in a different accent. (I told them I could try Russian). Every step of the way, my background has been against me succeeding in the music business. And when I have managed to break through, I was still scoffed at for being too posh for the industry...
"And then you come along, looking for votes, telling working class people that posh people like me don't deserve it, and that we must redress the balance. But it is your populist, envy-based, vote-hunting ideas which make our country c**p, far more than me and my s**t songs, and my plummy accent... You prejudiced wazzock..."
