In a week in which James Arthur’s brand has come crashing down around him, the singer has cancelled all engagements.
In a very public meltdown this week; where James Arthur released a homophobic ‘diss’ rap, his Twitter account was on management lock down, a public row with Frankie Boyle and a spat with Lucy Spraggan, the X Factor winner has been instructed by his doctor to ‘rest for several days.’
A statement released today said:
“James would like to apologise to his fans for any disappointment caused to them by these cancellations,” it added.
“He hopes to get back to full health as soon as possible.”
Arthur who won last year’s X Factor has apologised to the gay community after an argument on Twitter in which he used the homophobic slur ‘You F**king Queer’ in a rap.
The singer was responding to an underground rapper, Micky Worthless, who criticised Arthur’s decision to enter X Factor in 2012. Arthur responded with a rap which included the gay slur, ‘You f**king queer’.
Lucy Spraggan, who is openly gay, shared texts sent to her from the singer who is now mired in controversy.
The text to the Tea and Toast singer, who shared the message via Twitter, said:
‘Lucy what are you playing at having digs at me?
‘Is it coz you’re a gay rights activist you had to say something as extreme as “people kill themselves every day over words like queer” are you for real?
‘You not think you’re being a bit over the top? Do you want attention or something? Sorry I didnt tweet you’re album link I’ve been busy but you didn’t need to be so two faced [all sic].’
He then told her to ‘f**k off’ with her ‘career sh**e’ and then said: ‘Real people don’t care.’
To which Spraggan replied with a text saying:
‘Real people are people you arsehole.’
The text Ping-Pong ended with Arthur suggesting that Spraggan was ‘two faced’ and should ‘disappear’ to which she suggested: ‘I think you’ll do that far before I do.’
She then tweeted:
‘And that was tweeted because it has to be f**kng said. Dick.’
James Arthur momentarily took control of his Twitter account to tweet:
‘Keep the witch hunt coming motherf**kers. Be a sheep or do some homework. I’m off again lol #LOVE enjoy HQ gettin my lyrics wrong 😉 x’
So is this it for James Arthur? Can he recover from this?