Morrissey: NME Twisted My Words

Morrissey

Morrissey is claiming that he has been defamed by the NME in an interview with him that appears in this week's edition of the music weekly.

The magazine quotes Mozza as saying: "England is a memory now. The gates are flooded and anybody can have access to England and join in. Although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears. So the price is enormous. Travel to England and you have no idea where you are. It matters because the British identity is very attractive. I grew up into it and I find it very quaint and amusing. Other countries have held on to their basic identity, yet it seems to me that England's was thrown away. You can't say, 'Everybody come into my house, sit on the bed, have what you like, do what you like.' It wouldn't work".

Representatives of the singer say that the NME have misrepresented what he said to make his comments sound more controversial, claiming that the journalist who interviewed Mozza for the magazine has admitted as much. They quote a note from the interviewer, Tim Jonze, a freelancer, in which he says: "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".

Morrissey rep Merck Mercuriadis told reporters yesterday: "We assume [it] can only be intended to create controversy to boost [the NME's] circulation at the expense of Morrissey's integrity, and for which no journalist is willing to be credited. As you can see from the legal letter below, we will be unrelenting in our quest to bring NME to justice."

Given Jonze's comments Mozza's people seem to be laying responsibility for the alleged defamation at the door of NME editor Conor McNicholas.

He told The Sun: "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".

A spokesman for the magazine, meanwhile, told reporters this morning: "We haven't done anything to make the interview read in a more inflammatory way".

All this hoo ha blew up on the day Morrissey announced that he had signed a new record deal with Universal's Polydor who will release a new studio album from him next year.