Even after canceling a string of recent concerts, including this weekend’s KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Morrissey is still finding a way to speak to his audience. After recent quotes from an interview with German publication Der Spiegel went viral, including lines sympathizing with Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein as well as threatening Donald Trump, Morrissey issued a lengthy statement blaming the outlet for the quotes. This comes after a concert where Morrissey told his audience that he wouldn’t do print interviews anymore after the incident.
Morrissey rolled back nearly every controversial element contained in the initial story, denying that he would even say such things:
“Would I kill Donald Trump? No, never. Would I support Kevin Spacey’s private proclivities? No, never. Would I ever support abuse of children? No, never. Would I support sexual harassment? No, never. Would I support rape? No, never. Would Der Spiegel convey my views fairly? No, never. Would I ever again speak to print media? No, never.”
He then went on to blame print media in general, taking a bit of Trump-esque “fake news” tone to call into question all journalism:
“In the world of music, as with politics, if you show any signs of being able to make a difference, you will be blocked, and you will have your arms tugged out from their sockets. In the same world of music, if you have nothing to say, if your brain is a mental frost and if your pointless songs are the eyes of a dead fish, then your number one position awaits unasked, and your five-star reviews shall keep the press alive. Music is eternity, and the call of 2018 is the time to be new and different. But you must forget the print media who are infatuated with their own reflection and do not want yours. Be eggless and brainless and cloudy and crap, and they’ll usher you through like a little bag of dung. Can you hear the wind between each ear?”
The message concludes with Morrissey saying he asked for the audio of the original interview and the publication has refused. While it might be heartening to think that he never said these things in the first place, blaming all of print media, especially in a time when the professional work of so many are written off by our own elected leaders, is unfortunate. You can read his full Facebook statement below.
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