Morrissey defends himself from racism charges brought on by remarks about immigration from what he says was an NME story that “bears no relation in print to the fleshly conversation that took place.” Here's an excerpt from a lengthy, interesting blog post in the Guardian today:
“When my comments are printed in the ‘new' NME they are butchered, redesigned, reordered, chopped, snipped and split in order to make me seem racist and unreasonable. [Writer] Tim [Jonze] had told me about his friend who did not like the 1987 song Bengali in Platforms because the friend had thought the song attacked him on a personal level. I explained to Tim that the song was not about his friend. In print, the ‘new' NME do not explain this, but attempt to multiply the horror of Tim's friend by attributing “these people” and “those people” quotes to me – terms I would never use, but are useful to the ‘new' NME in their Morrissey-is-racist campaign because these terms are only used by people who are cold and indifferent and Thatcherite. All of the people I spoke to Tim about in the interview who are heroes to me and who are Middle Eastern or of other ethnic back grounds were of no interest to either Tim or Conor. Clearly, Tim had been briefed and his agenda was to cook up a sensational story that would give life to the ‘new' NME as a must-read national if not global shock-horror story. Recalling how Tim asked me to sign some CD covers, I do not blame him entirely…
…My heart sank as Tim Jonze let slip the tell-all editorial directive behind this interview: “it's Conor's view that Morrissey thinks black people are OK … but he wouldn't want one living next door to him.” It was then that I realized the full extent of the setup, and I felt like Bob Hoskins in the final frame of The Long Good Friday as he sits in the back of the wrong getaway car realizing the extent of the conspiratorial slime that now trapped him.”
Morrissey has taken legal action against the publication.
I abhor racism, and apologise – for speaking to NME [morrissey in the guardian]
Recently
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