Morrissey to sue NME
The Smiths frontman has courted controversy throughout his career.
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Friday, 30, Nov 2007 11:40
Former Smiths frontman Morrissey is to sue music magazine NME after it failed to apologise for an article concerning his views on immigration.
The singer's management had requested the magazine print a retraction after an article criticised the Mancunian for allegedly expressing his dismay at Britain's 'lost identity'.
In a statement issued yesterday, the singer's lawyers said: "The NME had until 13:00 GMT today to print a suitable apology to Morrissey. Their only response to this deadline was to say that they 'do not have time to respond to the allegations'."
Earlier that day an NME spokesperson told the BBC: "We can confirm that Morrissey's legal representatives have been in contact with NME and pending the outcome of these discussions we won't be commenting any further."
The article quoted Morrissey, who now lives in Rome having relocated from Los Angeles, as saying Britain is paying an "enormous price" for its stance on immigration, allegedly telling the magazine: "The higher the influx into Britain the more the British identity disappears."
He reputedly went on: "If you travel to Germany, it's still absolutely Germany. If you travel to Sweden, it still has a Swedish identity. But travel to Britain and you have no idea where you are.
"If you walk through Knightsbridge in London on any bland day of the week you won't hear a single British accent but you'll hear every other accent under the sun.
He is quoted as adding: "Britain is just a distant memory now. It seems to me that our country was thrown away.
"Millions of ordinary people are leaving the UK every year because they don't recognise the place, so what I am saying is not unique. If you travel to Croatia tomorrow for instance, and walked around Zagreb hearing nothing but Dublin accents, you would find it shocking."
The author of the piece reportedly wrote to Morrissey's management saying the piece was substantially rewritten before going to press.
"I should mention that for reasons I'll probably never understand, NME have rewritten the [Morrissey] piece. I had a read and virtually none of it is my words or beliefs so I've asked for my name to be taken off it," the Sun quotes freelance journalist Tim Jonze as saying.
In a reply to Morrissey's representative Merck Mercuriadis, NME editor Conor McNicholas had called the comments in the piece "fair and balanced", saying: "Obviously no-one is accusing Morrissey of racism - that would be mad given what Morrissey says - but we do say that the language Morrissey uses is very unhelpful at a time of great tensions."
The singer's management responded on his fan site True to You, accusing McNicholas of "trying to put his name in the history books via a poorly thought out and terribly executed attempt at character assassination".