Celine Dion fans protest outside of Rolling Stone’s offices
Their hearts will not go on — until Rolling Stone gives justice to Celine Dion.
More than a dozen superfans gathered in front of Rolling Stone’s New York City headquarters on Friday with protest signs — and songs — after the rock bible excluded the ailing 54-year-old legend from their “200 Greatest Singers of All Time” list published Jan. 1.
Her diehard fans previously declared her omission a “crime against humanity” before taking their beef to the streets.
Some of the pop anthem activists’ homemade signs were emblazoned with messages such as “We want a recount,” “How can you forget Celine?” and “Rolling Stone, you’ve hit an iceberg,” cheekily referring to her “Titanic” mega-hit “My Heart Will Go On.”
Others defiantly claimed “Rolling Stone is stoned” — and drew a marijuana blunt on their posters heralding the artist once declared “The Greatest Singer in the World” by “Saturday Night Live.”
Rolling Stone eventually sent out one of their reporters to speak with the passionate crowd.
The venerable music news outlet also reported that the protest appeared to be organized by a group of Dion fans who call themselves the “Red Heads,” as videos of them making their signage appear in the stories on an Instagram fan account with more than 10,000 followers.
“We are here to express ourselves in the name of Celine because obviously you made a big mistake forgetting her name on the big list you published last week,” one protestor said in a video posted to Rolling Stone’s Twitter.
Note: These Dion fans could go down in record as the most cheerful activists ever if their smiley-faced Instagram stories are any indication. However, one post was pretty blunt:
“We hope that Rolling Stone will admit that they made a mistake,” another fan reasoned.
The public display comes days after fans of the five-time Grammy-winning artist was nowhere to be found on the list that honored classic acts like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury. Even newer artists, including SZA, Adele and Taylor Swift made the list — but not Dion.
In their defense, Rolling Stone asked wrote in its article: “Before you start scrolling (and commenting), keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List.”
The publication added that “originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog and the breadth of their musical legacy” also factored into its decisions.
The Post has contacted reps for Rolling Stone and Dion for comment.
Meanwhile, the pop icon revealed in December that she was cancelling her upcoming shows after being diagnosed with an incurable neurological disorder that turns people into “human statues.”
The “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” singer broke the news in an emotional Instagram video.
“As you know I’ve always been an open book and I wasn’t ready to say anything before but i’m ready now,” Dion said in the devastating clip. “I’ve been dealing with problems with my health for a long time and it’s been really difficult for me to face my challenges and to talk about everything that I’ve been going through.”
Dion then disclosed that she’d been diagnosed with a “a very rare neurological disorder called stiff person syndrome which affects one in a million people.”
Stiff person syndrome is a “rare acquired neurological disorder characterized by progressive muscle stiffness (rigidity) and repeated episodes of painful muscle spasms,” according to RareDiseases.org,
If left untreated, SPS symptoms can progress to the point that it significantly impairs the sufferer’s ability to walk and perform routine daily tasks.
“While we’re still learning about this rare condition, we now know this is what’s been causing all the spasms I’ve been having,” the singer explained. “Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to.”
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