Aitch has spoken out about the massive backlash he faced when an advert promoting his debut album was painted over a tribute mural to the late Ian Curtis.
The Moston-born rapper, 22, said he was ‘the most hated person in Manchester’ after social media users caught wind of the replacement artwork.
The original mural of the late Joy Division singer was commissioned to raise awareness for mental health and raise money for charities Manchester Mind and Help Musicians, and painted by renowned muralist Akse.
The Aitch advert. Credit: The Manc GroupThe original Ian Curtis mural. Credit: UnsplashAitch has spoken out about the backlash he received over the cover-up of the Ian Curtis mural
A lot of the vitriol was directed at Aitch despite his insistence that he doesn’t pick where his promotional materials are placed.
The young star has now said about how ‘fuming’ he was in an interview with BBC Breakfast.
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He said: “I was fuming, for two reasons. I was fuming for Ian and his people and what that mural stands for.
“And then I was fuming for myself because I was having such a good week, I was like ‘Yeah the album’s coming out in a couple days, I can’t wait, everything’s going so well’, and the the next minute I was the most hated person in Manchester for about 40 minutes.
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'I was the most hated person in Manchester for about 40 minutes' Rapper Aitch has told #BBCBreakfast he will have a mural of music icon Ian Curtis "fixed pronto" after it was painted over with an advert for his new album.https://t.co/WlHMJRX7lMpic.twitter.com/mxXmZsO13P
“It was out of my control, there was nothing I could do apart from put a stop to it and get it fixed, and that’s obviously exactly what I done, so I think everyone’s my friend again now.”
He also told BBC Breakfast that the first he knew of it was when the backlash began on Twitter.
Aitch said: “I don’t pick and choose where I put my billboards or album promo. I just wake up and drive past it or see it on the internet, just like everyone else.
“So basically I seen it and straight away made a phone call, we spoke to Amazon, we spoke to the artist who originally done Ian’s mural, and we just put a stop to mine straight away and we’re gonna get it either restored or redone by the original artist.”
Amazon Music said on 19 August, three days after the mural incident occurred: “As part of our efforts to promote Aitch’s new album, we asked our ad agency to create a mural in his hometown of Manchester.
“Unbeknownst to us or to Aitch, the wall the agency chose for the new artwork already had a mural on it — one honouring the late great Ian Curtis.
The original Ian Curtis mural. Credit: Unsplash
“As soon as we learned of this, we ordered the production to stop, and are working with Aitch to restore or replace the original Ian Curtis mural as soon as possible. Our apologies to all who are justifiably upset.”
At the time, Headstock said: “Absolutely gutted to see our Ian Curtis mural painted over. Such a shame when @AmazonMusicUK had pretty much any other wall in Manchester to choose from. Especially when it was created by @Akse_P19 to raise mental health awareness in support of @GiveUsAShout #mentalhealth.”
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If you’re struggling with mental health, know that you are never alone – you can reach out for support in Greater Manchester through these brilliant charities.
Manchester Mind – An organisation that has supported people in Manchester for over 30 years. Most services are now available over the phone, by email or video call. The number is 0161 769 5732 and the opening hours are Monday – Friday, 10am -2pm.
The GM Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust – The local NHS helpline is open 24/7 which you can call any time, day or night, if you feel your mental health is beginning to suffer: 0800 953 0285.
Andy’s Man Club – A group dedicated to starting conversations about mental health, assuring people that it’s ok to talk. You can contact them by email on: [email protected].
CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably supports people via phone and webchat. You can call 0800 58 58 58 or speak to a support worker online. Open 5pm – midnight.
Samaritans – The Manchester & Salford Samaritans offer emotional support by telephone and email. The phone lines and email support are available 24/7. Call 116 123 or visit the website.
Featured image: BBC Breakfast
TV & Showbiz
Sir Ian McKellen pays emotional tribute to long-time friend and fellow northern actor Sir Patrick Stewart
Emily Sergeant
Sir Ian McKellen has paid an emotional tribute to his long-time friend and fellow northern actor, Sir Patrick Stewart, following his death.
Sir Patrick Stewart – who was born and bred in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, and is best-known for his theatre work alongside an illustrious 60-year screen career, taking on prominent roles in franchises such as Star Trek and X-Men – sadly passed away at the age of 86, with his death being announced publicly yesterday evening (29 October).
And now, his long-time friend and fellow northern actor, Sir Ian McKellen, has paid tribute.
Sir Patrick and Sir Ian shared the stage together countless times over their decades-long careers, but also famously starred alongside each other in the X-Men franchise, and subsequent Marvel movies, as Charles Xavier/Professor X and Magneto.
The tribute, shared across Sir Ian’s social media platforms, reads: “Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.
“We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions.
“My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in ‘Star Trek’. “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”
“Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did, for not just his devoted Trekkies, but film and theatre audiences who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes (‘X-Men’ of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway.
“America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin.
“But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire.”
Sir Patrick Stewart’s farewell performance will be in Avengers: Doomsday, which is being released in UK cinemas on 18 December 2026
Featured Image – Gage Skidmore (via Flickr)
TV & Showbiz
James Acaster reveals eerie song all Traitors contestants are forced to listen to before every roundtable
Emily Sergeant
James Acaster has revealed the eerie (and pretty surprising) song that all Traitors contestants are forced to listen to before every roundtable.
In case you’ve been living comfortably under a rock, you’ll probably be aware that comedian James Acaster is currently a contestant on this current season of BBC‘s smash-hit reality TV competition show, The Celebrity Traitors – a show that viewers in their millions are tuning into each week, with some big names on the cast.
Acaster is currently (spoiler alert… but it shouldn’t be at this point, we are several weeks in after all) one of three Traitors competing on the show, and he’s doing a pretty good job at it.
But we wonder how much of his success can be put down to the producers’ love of a certain song they like to play before every roundtable? Probably next to none, but it’s surprising to find out how much of an integral role the tune plays though.
The song we’re referring to here, it has been revealed, is ‘The Hanging Tree’ – a folk ballad made popular by The Hunger Games.
‘The Hanging Tree’, composed by James Newton Howard and Suzanne Collins, was famously sung by Jennifer Lawrence’s character Katniss Everdeen in the third instalment of the film franchise, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.
The lyrics are as follows:
Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where they strung up a man They say who murdered three? Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met at midnight In the hanging tree
So, as you can see, the song does make reference to ‘murder’, which is a key part of The Traitors game (not real murder, of course), but even with that context, we’re still not sure why the producers are keen to play it out before every roundtable.
During a viral TikTok clip from an on-stage Q&A this week, Acaster revealed the song’s usage to the audience: “You all walk in silence down the corridor, and you all sit down, and they don’t announce it’s gonna happen.
“The first time this will completely blindside you, but they do it every single roundtable. They play that song from The Hunger Games, that ‘coming to the tree’ song. Like acapella, Jennifer Lawrence.”
He continued: “It was every f***ing time, it was the only song we heard the whole time we were in there, and all day I would have it in my head constantly, everyone would, I’d go ‘have you got coming to the tree in your head?’ and they’d go ‘yes, it’s in my head, again’.”
Viewers who watch the show may have spotted the song being played in the background or transition between certain scenes, but now it’s been revealed that the contestants hear it too.
Who would’ve thought?
Featured Image – Euan Cherry / BBC / Studio Lambert
Daisy Jackson -
23rd August 2022 
