Russell Brand advocates: give teen pop stars heroin

Russell Brand Katy Perry

It’s the only way to ‘weed out’ the teenyboppers destroying music, says comedian

BY Sophie Taylor LAST UPDATED AT 09:02 ON Fri 16 Apr 2010

The comedian Russell Brand has outraged the tabloids again - this time by saying that "teenybopper" pop stars should be given heroin in the hope that it might "weed out" a lot of those now dominating the pop charts.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, Brand - a reformed heroin addict - said the music industry needed saving. "The top of the hit parade would look very different if teenyboppers were exposed to heroin. It would weed a lot of them out."

He picked out the current American teenybopper sensation Justin Bieber for special attention. "I don't think Justin Bieber could handle Syd Barrett's habit," said Brand, referring to the late Pink Floyd member who was said to be an LSD addict.

"A lot of people in their journey to rehab overdose, and then, perhaps, we would be spared their awful music. It's Darwinian. It's the law of natural selection."

Brand also urged Rolling Stone readers to listen to music written and played by drug addicts. "The music I listen to is mostly by the dead and dying, which is how I want my rock stars: Syd Barrett, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors."

Today, the Daily Mail, the paper that launched the public offensive against Brand and Jonathan Ross over the 2008 'Manuelgate' saga, quotes David Raynes of the Drug Prevention Alliance saying: "This is mindless idiocy. It smacks of desperate attention-seeking from Brand."

Brand has been photographed in recent days looking for an apartment in New York with his fiancee, the American singer Katy Perry (above, with Brand). Whether or not by coincidence, Perry used Twitter this week to ask Brand whether they could adopt 16-year-old Bieber to live with them.

She posted a picture of the fresh-faced teenybopper and wrote: "Hey Rusty Rockets. I know we're getting hitched and all, but I was wondering if you'd be open to the idea of adopting first? I have an idea... what about this cute lil one?! I'm sure he could use a great home." · 
