"Sorry" Morrissey Is Not A Racist; A Court Ordered Statement

The British publication The World has offered a court-ordered apology to British Singer Morrissey regarding a statement made about him which he claimed was defamation.The singer related the incident to his suit against the NME another publication he is currently suing for defamation."As previously reported":PR Morrissey sued British music magazine NME for defamation, claiming the publication twisted his words in a recent interview to make him appear racist. Morrissey was quoted by the magazine as saying he would no longer live in Britain because an "immigration explosion" was stripping his native land of its identity."The gates are flooded, and anybody can have access to England and join in," he reportedly said."Other countries have held on to their basic identity yet it seems to me that England was thrown away."Later, the UK rock rag The Word ran a review of Morrissey's ??Greatest Hits?? set in its March 2008 issue which put the Smith frontman in a less than flattering light. The singer's camp took particular offense to the closing paragraphs of the review, penned by David Quantick, which included the following:

What vexes me is that once Morrissey made music that talked about the underdog, the victim, and those in the minority. Now he makes music that excludes those people. The odd song about a Mexican gang member and a lonely lesbian doesn't disguise the fact that he's quite happy to dismiss a whole chunk of the population as people who, to use the nasty phrase from [Viva Hate's] 'Bengali in Platforms', don't belong here.Never mind that he's the 2008 equivalent of a '70s rock exile, opining about a country he only really knows from a Knightsbridge hotel window or a cab to Wembley Stadium. Never mind that as the child of an immigrant parent he really should know better than to attack immigration (which is, you ignorant quiffy rock exile, what keeps this country from being a Royal Family-led NF ,National Front, tourist park).For his waving of the flag (for publicity too, it would seem), for his ingrained habit of paying lip service to anti-racism while talking like an old Tory immigration spokesman, and for his abandonment of everything that made the Smiths a band for outsiders, Morrissey should be ashamed of himself. Sadly, he never will be.

Morrissey filed a libel suit against The Word's publisher, Development Hell Limited, alleging defamation. The publisher offered a court-ordered apology today in a statement read at England's Royal Courts of Justice. The apology portion of that statement reads as follows:"It has been drawn to the Defendants' attention that the closing paragraphs of Mr. Quantick's article could have been construed to suggest that Mr. Morrissey was a racist, held racist opinions, or that (as the child of migrant parents) he was a hypocrite. The article suggested that Mr. Morrissey has in the past paid lip service only to anti-racism.The Defendants never intended the article to have the meanings suggested above and wish to make absolutely clear that they disassociate themselves entirely from any such inferences that might be drawn from the article. The Defendants accept that it would be absurd to accuse Mr. Morrissey of being a racist or of espousing racist views. They equally accept that Mr. Morrissey is not a hypocrite, in relation in particular to the views he has expressed in the past in relation to British cultural identity.The Defendants accept that Mr. Morrissey is well known as a keen supporter of anti-racist groups and the Defendants wish to make absolutely clear that they never intended the article to suggest that Mr. Morrissey was anything other than a sincere supporter of anti-racism initiatives.The Defendants wish to take this opportunity to apologise to Mr. Morrissey for any offence or distress that he may have been caused by the closing paragraphs of the article and are happy to make the position clear." Morrissey accepted the apology, and related the incident to his suit against the NME, which has not yet been resolved: "I am obviously delighted with this victory and the clearing of my name in public where it is loud and clear for all to hear. The NME have calculatedly tried to damage my integrity and to label me as a racist in order to boost their diminishing circulation. Word magazine made the mistake of repeating those allegations, which they now accept are false and, as a result, have apologised in Open Court. I will now continue to pursue my legal action against the NME and its editor until they do the same." "MORE HERE":CH[CH]http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/49720-morrissey-wins-apology-from-iwordi-mag-in-libel-suit[PR]http://mog.com/Sturgell/blog_post/128473