By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Have you ever come across a celebrity story that's so weird it makes you convince yourself over and over again that you're not learning sarcasm? That happened to us recently when we read about Helen Mirren's comments about Kurt Cobain in her recent interview with The Evening Standard's Brave New World. During this interview, the famous actor strangely criticized Cobain for commenting that the Nirvana singer didn't live long enough to get a GPS.
Kurt Cobain Missed From GPS
Helen Mirren told the interviewer the following: “I always say, it's very sad that Kurt Cobain died when he died, because he never saw a GPS.” He went on to praise the beauty of the technology, saying, “GPS is a great thing, watching my little blue dot while I'm walking down the street.” Summing up his fascination with this modern technology, he said, “I just find it magical and unbelievable.”
As you can imagine, the internet had a field day mocking Helen Mirren's comments about Kurt Cobain, many pointing out that this is a really weird way to mourn a dead celebrity. Others pointed out how similar the actor's comments are to humorous content from a satirical website Click holewhich often publishes fake quotes from celebrities on “What Are They Saying?!” part.
In fact, the site posted a fake Mirren quote in 2015–“You're not up until you go to sleep”–but the actress's latest rant about GPS seems more nonsense than satire.
In fairness to Helen Mirren, her comments about Kurt Cobain make more sense in context. It all started when he reflected on growing up and was surprised that he is now 79 years old.
Although the sentiment was expressed in a strange way, it seems that Mirren was thinking about how aging can be a blessing because she gets to experience some impressive innovation from time to time. Most of us take GPS for granted now, but in 1994 (the year the Nirvana frontman died), this would have looked like technology straight out of Star Trek.
Are You Obsessed With The Nirvana Artist?
If you go back and watch some of Helen Mirren's interviews, her fixation on Kurt Cobain and technology was strangely similar: in 2014, she expressed disbelief to Oprah Winfrey that when Cobain died, “he had never seen a computer.” In 2015, he admitted to Cosmopolitan that he was “absolutely blown away” that Cobain “died without knowing the Internet.”
In 2016, he echoed these thoughts in Daily Mailsaying, “If I were to die at 27 years old, Kurt Cobain's age.” [of rock band Nirvana] he died in 1994, I didn't even know there was an internet!”
Critics of Helen Mirren might think it's a tad ghoulish that she seems to be using Kurt Cobain as pop culture shorthand for dying so young. However, the common thread of his many comparisons is his continued gratitude that he was able to experience the many wonders of technology as he grew up. The Internet already seems like a miracle to the average child of the '80s, and it's an exciting new innovation to a 79-year-old.
Helen Mirren may be making headlines for this weird quote about Kurt Cobain, but it seems her heart is in the right place. Like many Nirvana fans, he mourns the talent that was lost too soon, and especially mourns all the wonderful things the troubled artist never had the chance to hear. And we honestly think Cobain would have loved the Internet because it embodies the qualities of “Teen Spirit:” in particular, it's silly and contagious.
Source: Variety
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