Morrissey has issued a statement clarifying his position during an ongoing battle with the NME.
It’s become one of the defining moments of Morrissey’s career. Granting the NME a rare interview, the indie wordsmith was probed about his attitudes and opinions towards life in 21st century Britain.
The resulting feature caused an enormous row, with Morrissey immediately taking action against the magazine. The lyricist put the case on ice, recently deciding that the moment was right to continue his legal action.
Granted a jury trial, the legal action is shaping up to be one of 2012’s most fascinating musical moments.
Ahead of this, Morrissey has issued a statement on fan site True To You regarding the case. “At last week’s court hearing Judge Tugendhat ruled in favour of Morrissey and against the NME in the NME’s effort to prevent Morrissey taking them to court. The NME also wanted the Court to order Morrissey to pay over one hundred thousand pounds for their legal fees thus far, which was also unsuccessful.”
“At the Application hearing, the NME were represented by a large number of lawyers, together with ex-editor Conor McNicholas. The NME’s current editor, Krissi Murison, and Guardian music “writer”, Tim Jonze, also provided written statements in support of the NME against Morrissey.”
Continuing, Morrissey’s camp make a number of accusations against the NME. “Morrissey regrets the outcome of the interview with Tim Jonze, which only Conor McNicholas had the power to re-write. Morrissey believes that the NME’s position is unsupportable, not least because the interview tapes exist and the printed interview transcripts exist and, on the examination of both, the conduct of the NME is there for all to see.”
“Furthermore, Morrissey’s camp were subsequently told that following the printed interview, Conor McNicholas wrote to Love Music Hate Racism (on whom the NME had recently devoted an entire issue), and warned them that if they supported Morrissey in this dispute then they could forget about any further support from the NME.”
Read the full statement HERE.
