I agree with Keef

Hello, Godwin.  This entire thread will now be possibly been censored.

Guess they won’t be doing ’Paint It Black’ either.

Perhaps. The song is (possibly) about grief, depression and loss of hope.

The Stones are or will be playing in the United States of America, right? Los Angeles?

This cancel culture does raise some tricky issues all by itself; its mere existence is disconcerting for some on a number of levels.

But self-censorship?  The Stones?  Huh?  Where will it stop?

I wonder about the reception some of their other songs receive, like "It Must be Hell"?  That is much more subversive.  Many others.

While censorship of artists by tyrannous regimes is an abomination, there seems to be no evidence that this is explicit in the current predicament. It is however entirely credible that an implicit and undefined threat exists.

Some people don’t like the words cancel culture (with one poster even putting the words in apostrophes), or even denying the movement exists, so I am going to call this elusive tyranny the Elite. Many may be familiar with the Elite, despite not quite knowing who they are.

Every age has its puritans. But once artists begin tailoring their work in accordance with how well it may be received by the Elites who scream the loudest, their craft is bound to suffer.

As has been noted in no uncertain terms, there is something even much more dispiriting about artists who surrender their freedoms voluntarily when confronted by an undefined and implicit threat by the Elite.

It is a kind of death - it is not in the nature of artists to admit that they are curtailing their own manner of expression in the face of external influences, and in Richard’s words I can read him struggling against kowtowing to ideological expectations.

@noske

Yes, and a blackboard is a medium used in teaching.
What’s their new name for blackbird? Will McCartney be censored too?
Time they all grew up.

I personally speculate that Mick and Keith might actually have an ulterior motive (or motives), one that others cannot ever hope to achieve with the same worldwide attention.

Are Americans familiar with the term "own goal"?

Edit - this specific thought bubble has only grown legs since my last rant, which, while it stands on its own, may nevertheless be inconsistent with what has now transpired.

I think that its tremendous that the elites are being exposed to the world in this manner for their many contradictions and selectively authoritarian tactics.  The tissue thin agenda is transparent for all who can think.

Of course the Stones didn't announce this particular decision with fanfare and publicity.  They are British. 

Any fallout was bound to happen organically by the caterpillars; this was always going to be inevitable, and quite effective in the circumstances.