Hey Harry Styles, do your homework before backing a criminal

“He’s a menace to society.”

I know what you’re thinking, but no. That wasn’t a review following a Harry Styles show.

That quote came from a former neighbour of Oscar Belgal, the 28-year-old Dominican man shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in New York while his five-year-old son sat in the car.

Belgal has a grand larceny conviction and faces separate drug-sales charges, which he denies. The neighbour also alleged he had pulled a machete during a fight. That's quite a bit of background for Styles to leave out when asking Madison Square Garden to spare him a thought.

Bathed in the spotlight of tens of thousands of pre-pubescent crushes, and dressed like the 11th member of the Von Trapp family, the singer paused before performing "Sign of the Times" to offer the crowd a taste of what goes on (or rather what doesn't) in his clearly cloistered mind.

“I just want us to take a moment to think about Oscar Belgal tonight,” he said.

He urged the crowd to “look after one another” and “respect people from different backgrounds”. 

Bringing a contested case before thousands of adoring fans without explaining its background or considering the complications was staggeringly foolish. 

A microphone might make your opinion louder, Harry. It doesn’t make it better informed.

Fame has a curious side effect

There is a peculiar transaction that occurs when somebody becomes sufficiently famous.

We admire them for doing one thing exceptionally well, then quietly credit them in fields where they have no particular competence.

One wonders if those who paid upwards of $1k to see the former boy band member belt out a few catchy tunes factored in an ill-informed rant on the political landscape of a country he doesn't even live in into the ticket price. 

Personally, for upwards of $1k, Styles' better have sung the entire score of Hamilton, while playing all the roles. Then again, let's face it, he doesn't possess Lamar Odom's range, or his charisma.

Unfortunately, those at the concert copped a poorly explained contested immigration operation involving a criminal conviction, pending charges and disputed police conduct.

So very rock ‘n’ roll. 

The inconvenient bit between the verses

Belgal’s criminal history is real.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed that he had been arrested for robbery in 2023, subsequently pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and received five years’ probation. A separate drug-sales case remains pending. Reporting based on court documents and prosecutors identifies the substances allegedly sold as fentanyl, heroin and cocaine. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

A conviction, pending charges and a neighbour’s allegation are different categories of information, and responsible commentary keeps them separate.

It also bothers to mention them.

Styles’ remarks directed sympathy towards Belgal without acknowledging the conduct that had brought him to police attention. Concern about a shooting is legitimate. Presenting its subject without meaningful context leaves an audience with an incomplete picture.

Then again, incomplete pictures work especially well in celebrity activism. One might even argue they ae the cornerstone.

All the rest of the details, you know, like the facts, well… they can get to all that later.

A child was in that car

Federal officials say Belgal refused orders to leave his vehicle, struck two government vehicles and accelerated towards officers. They say officers fired because they believed their lives were in danger. 

I don’t know about you, but if I’m driving with my children and an identifiable police officer tells me to stop, I’m stopping. Whatever argument I have can wait until my kids are safe.

Identifiable is doing necessary work in that sentence.

The NYPD described plainclothes agents approaching with guns drawn. At least one officer fired seven rounds. The police surveillance footage did not capture the shooting itself, and the child was physically unharmed. 

If the federal account is substantiated, Belgal endangered his child and the officers around him. That deserves condemnation. Whether the officers’ response was justified requires its own investigation.

Anyone confidently settling both questions from a concert stage should perhaps consider how much confidence the evidence actually permits.

The boy deserved adults making careful decisions around him. He now deserves a public discussion that matches that level of care.

The influence comes with the job

Styles’ audience includes young girls who adore him. He carries enormous influence with younger fans, who may assume their favourite singer has done his homework before asking them to sympathise with someone.

Styles did not need to tell fans that Belgal was innocent for his intervention to shape their impression of him. Naming him, asking the room to think about him, and framing that appeal in the language of compassion gave the moment an unmistakable emotional direction.

Young fans can think for themselves. But when someone they idolise supplies the framing, his judgement can become the starting point for theirs.

That gives him a responsibility to be precise.

Instead, the crowd received a message whose simplicity came from leaving out the difficult bits. The criminal conviction. The pending allegations. The disputed account of the encounter.

Those details might interrupt the mood.

They also help people make informed judgements.

Kindness, subject to a bag check

Now, about security.

Try strolling backstage at Madison Square Garden because you, too, possess equal human worth.

Explain to the person blocking your path that you deserve respect, love and dignity. Perhaps hum a little Sign of the Times to establish common ground.

You will still need a pass.

There is a reason for that. Equal human worth does not mean equal access. Security staff have to consider behaviour, circumstances and risk.

If universal goodwill were a sufficient safety policy, Harry could dispense with the security arrangements at his shows. Open the private areas. Let strangers wander into his dressing room. Offer fans the spare bed.

Oh, wait… There is a risk!

Precisely.

Migrants deserve humane treatment. Communities deserve protection. Immigration rules can be enforced, and those who enforce them can be held accountable.

None of these propositions cancels the others.

People who worry about crime or support border controls are entitled to have their concerns addressed seriously. A general invitation to be kinder does very little to answer them.

Especially when the person delivering it returns to a world where somebody else checks who gets through the door.

A little less certainty would help

In an already divided world, celebrity interventions can harden positions faster than they clarify facts.

Fans defend the singer. Critics attack the singer. The case becomes a referendum on Harry Styles, and suddenly everybody is discussing the man with the guitar instead of the decisions that led to a child sitting in a car while shots were fired.

What a spectacular waste of attention.

Belgal deserves medical care, due process and a proper investigation into his shooting. His conviction still matters. Serious allegations still require examination. Officers still have to justify their use of force.

Harry had enough time between songs to acknowledge that complexity.

His audience deserved it.

Styles closed by telling concertgoers: “Please get home safely and look after each other.”

Quite, Harry.

If the allegations against Belgal are substantiated, keeping him off the streets may help his neighbours do exactly that.

An inconvenient possibility to consider before the next encore.