Bono offers apology after bullying at ONE

[73October]

This is a big news story over here in the UK.

I wish Bono all the best with his work at ONE campaign.  I just wish there was more accountability between the board members and senior staff.  Unfortunately Bono's name has been inevitably brought up in this, as it was with the Paradise Papers scandal.

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[iced]

Yeah, this and other "stuff".

Wouldn't it be awful if the #metoo movement swallowed up Bono with a single accusation?

Let the "flood" begin...

Hope not.

[MadRob360]

It does my head in as if he's solely accountable for what has gone on, The media here in the UK are absolute pieces of dooh dah how they themselves bully people. Hope this doesn't blow up into another thing for the haters to jump on, it already annoys me every damn time when people type 'pay your taxes!' as if they don't pay a dime.

[U2Fan]

It made Fox News here in USA.

[Luzita]

It's terrible that this happened but it was discovered and corrected by an internal investigation within the ONE campaign (which is more than can be said for some other recent scandals like the one at OxFam). And Bono is doing the right thing by acknowledging responsibility as a co-founder, even if he had no involvement in that particular incident.

[Manos73]

In Bill Flanagan's U2: At the End of the World, Bono is asked about rock stardom and admits he's "eaten a slice of the pizza." In that book, during the ZooTV tour, Bono is shown to be out of control, drinking until passing out routinely. There's the naked interview, the partying all night. At the end of the tour, in Japan, he's found passed out in an American call girl's apartment with a snake crawling on him. Bill never actually says if anything happened while he was spending time with Bono. That is the context. 

Then Bono got into the tabloids partying with two American teenagers in 2008. He's also best pals with Bill Clinton.

He's a rock star so none of this is really surprising. He's just done very good job of keeping his image squeaky clean. Has he done anything worthy of #metoo? No idea.   

[summerholly]

In Bill Flanagan's U2: At the End of the World, Bono is asked about rock stardom and admits he's "eaten a slice of the pizza." In that book, during the ZooTV tour, Bono is shown to be out of control, drinking until passing out routinely. There's the naked interview, the partying all night. At the end of the tour, in Japan, he's found passed out in an American call girl's apartment with a snake crawling on him. Bill never actually says if anything happened while he was spending time with Bono. That is the context. 

Then Bono got into the tabloids partying with two American teenagers in 2008. He's also best pals with Bill Clinton.

He's a rock star so none of this is really surprising. He's just done very good job of keeping his image squeaky clean. Has he done anything worthy of #metoo? No idea.   

Minus the Bill Clinton thing my male friends have done all of that sort of stuff when they were younger and are perfectly decent human beings lol. Eating a slice of the pizza was routine back in the day lol.  We all survived and are relatively respectable human beings in our middle age.  Bono's antics are tame in comparison to many Rock Stars and even regular guys.  The feeling I get from reading those books are that really Bono and the guys were pretty "square" as one tabloid put it.  At least he stayed with his wife and family and has great love for his close friends.  The man cant be expected to be perfect lol.  I am sure he was pretty conflicted at times with his faith, his lifestyle and his temperament, but the feeling I get is that he is a pretty decent human being.

[Luzita]

In Bill Flanagan's U2: At the End of the World, Bono is asked about rock stardom and admits he's "eaten a slice of the pizza." In that book, during the ZooTV tour, Bono is shown to be out of control, drinking until passing out routinely. There's the naked interview, the partying all night. At the end of the tour, in Japan, he's found passed out in an American call girl's apartment with a snake crawling on him. Bill never actually says if anything happened while he was spending time with Bono. That is the context. 

Then Bono got into the tabloids partying with two American teenagers in 2008. He's also best pals with Bill Clinton.

He's a rock star so none of this is really surprising. He's just done very good job of keeping his image squeaky clean. Has he done anything worthy of #metoo? No idea.   

I'm assuming you haven't actually read U2: At the End of the World since you got so many things wrong.

Bono may be a rock star but he's never gone in for the typical rock star life style. He's been married to the same woman since 1982 and there's never been any hint of scandal other than deliberately misleading tabloid trash stories like the one you mentioned.

[Manos73]

In Bill Flanagan's U2: At the End of the World, Bono is asked about rock stardom and admits he's "eaten a slice of the pizza." In that book, during the ZooTV tour, Bono is shown to be out of control, drinking until passing out routinely. There's the naked interview, the partying all night. At the end of the tour, in Japan, he's found passed out in an American call girl's apartment with a snake crawling on him. Bill never actually says if anything happened while he was spending time with Bono. That is the context. 

Then Bono got into the tabloids partying with two American teenagers in 2008. He's also best pals with Bill Clinton.

He's a rock star so none of this is really surprising. He's just done very good job of keeping his image squeaky clean. Has he done anything worthy of #metoo? No idea.   

I'm assuming you haven't actually read U2: At the End of the World since you got so many things wrong.

Bono may be a rock star but he's never gone in for the typical rock star life style. He's been married to the same woman since 1982 and there's never been any hint of scandal other than deliberately misleading tabloid trash stories like the one you mentioned.

I have read it. It's been more than a decade. The cult of Bono gets really upset by the fact that he's a human.

[Luzita]

In Bill Flanagan's U2: At the End of the World, Bono is asked about rock stardom and admits he's "eaten a slice of the pizza." In that book, during the ZooTV tour, Bono is shown to be out of control, drinking until passing out routinely. There's the naked interview, the partying all night. At the end of the tour, in Japan, he's found passed out in an American call girl's apartment with a snake crawling on him. Bill never actually says if anything happened while he was spending time with Bono. That is the context. 

Then Bono got into the tabloids partying with two American teenagers in 2008. He's also best pals with Bill Clinton.

He's a rock star so none of this is really surprising. He's just done very good job of keeping his image squeaky clean. Has he done anything worthy of #metoo? No idea.   

I'm assuming you haven't actually read U2: At the End of the World since you got so many things wrong.

Bono may be a rock star but he's never gone in for the typical rock star life style. He's been married to the same woman since 1982 and there's never been any hint of scandal other than deliberately misleading tabloid trash stories like the one you mentioned.

I have read it. It's been more than a decade. The cult of Bono gets really upset by the fact that he's a human.

I’m not sure who you mean by “the cult of Bono.” I certainly recognize that Bono is very human. One of the things I believe about humans is that they deserve to be treated fairly and not have their character impugned based on nothing much. Though your post is pretty vague, it seems intended to suggest that maybe Bono is guilty of the sort of abuse towards woman that has been highlighted by the #metoo movement.

You know, as I’m typing this I’m wondering why I even bother to respond. But I’ll point out one thing — you claim Flanagan never said if anything happened while he spent time with Bono. But Flanagan said plenty about Adam’s troubles with drink, drugs, and prostitutes. If he knew of anything like that involving Bono he would have reported it.

Bono definitely has flaws. He drinks quite a bit and he has a temper. But he’s been very high profile for decades and there have always been people out to get him, so if he were guilty of anything really sleazy I’m pretty sure it would have come out.


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[Argo]

I think the media report this sort of stuff and try and make it look like it is solely Bono's organization and responsibility because he is mostly too much of a goody goody and they need to sensationalise issues. He and the rest of U2, with some exceptions from Adam at one point, don't do the normal sex, drugs and rock'n'roll stuff so they have to find other things to beat up like tax issues, Malibu housing situations and now the One bullying matter. The media work in a dying (or at least dramatically changing) industry where people want their news in small bites, don't want to pay for anything on-line and have more options than ever than watching the evening news, so the media has to sensationalise everything, use click bait techniques etc to get attention.

Sure, Bono has some responsibility re this issue but it couldn't and shouldn't be all about him.

[Luzita]

I think the media report this sort of stuff and try and make it look like it is solely Bono's organization and responsibility because he is mostly too much of a goody goody and they need to sensationalise issues. He and the rest of U2, with some exceptions from Adam at one point, don't do the normal sex, drugs and rock'n'roll stuff so they have to find other things to beat up like tax issues, Malibu housing situations and now the One bullying matter. The media work in a dying (or at least dramatically changing) industry where people want their news in small bites, don't want to pay for anything on-line and have more options than ever than watching the evening news, so the media has to sensationalise everything, use click bait techniques etc to get attention.

Sure, Bono has some responsibility re this issue but it couldn't and shouldn't be all about him.

You make excellent points.


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[Manos73]

In Bill Flanagan's U2: At the End of the World, Bono is asked about rock stardom and admits he's "eaten a slice of the pizza." In that book, during the ZooTV tour, Bono is shown to be out of control, drinking until passing out routinely. There's the naked interview, the partying all night. At the end of the tour, in Japan, he's found passed out in an American call girl's apartment with a snake crawling on him. Bill never actually says if anything happened while he was spending time with Bono. That is the context. 

Then Bono got into the tabloids partying with two American teenagers in 2008. He's also best pals with Bill Clinton.

He's a rock star so none of this is really surprising. He's just done very good job of keeping his image squeaky clean. Has he done anything worthy of #metoo? No idea.   

I'm assuming you haven't actually read U2: At the End of the World since you got so many things wrong.

Bono may be a rock star but he's never gone in for the typical rock star life style. He's been married to the same woman since 1982 and there's never been any hint of scandal other than deliberately misleading tabloid trash stories like the one you mentioned.

I have read it. It's been more than a decade. The cult of Bono gets really upset by the fact that he's a human.

I’m not sure who you mean by “the cult of Bono.” I certainly recognize that Bono is very human. One of the things I believe about humans is that they deserve to be treated fairly and not have their character impugned based on nothing much. Though your post is pretty vague, it seems intended to suggest that maybe Bono is guilty of the sort of abuse towards woman that has been highlighted by the #metoo movement.

You know, as I’m typing this I’m wondering why I even bother to respond. But I’ll point out one thing — you claim Flanagan never said if anything happened while he spent time with Bono. But Flanagan said plenty about Adam’s troubles with drink, drugs, and prostitutes. If he knew of anything like that involving Bono he would have reported it.

Bono definitely has flaws. He drinks quite a bit and he has a temper. But he’s been very high profile for decades and there have always been people out to get him, so if he were guilty of anything really sleazy I’m pretty sure it would have come out.


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The author put Bono in some questionable circumstances and then didn't clarify. He left it up to the reader. Maybe he was actually trying to make Bono appear more rock star then he actually was. Editor: put more crazy rock star stuff in! His ambiguity isn't helping to understand.

[xy]

As for the book : drinking, yes. Passed out routinely ? The U2 at the end of the world *I* remember only mentions Bono passing out right at the end of the tour, in Japan, after DECLINING sex and drugs. (only to wake up to a snake slightering around the house...) This is not even going into the fact that the biggest party man of the band was only ever arrested with marijuana.

As for ONE ? If they're correcting the matter, that's all that matters. Being one of the faces of the organisation doesn't mean he knew of, or supported, the said activities.

[DPardue]

If he didn't know of these bullying activities, he should have.  That is an organizational problem.

If he knew of these activities and did nothing he should have.  That is an ethical and moral problem to say the least.

I would bet money the problem is the former and not the latter.