Quote:
Morrissey to Sue NME for Failing to Clarify Immigration Remarks

Comments by Morrissey on immigration in the most recent issue of NME amount to "character assassination" according to the singer's lawyers, who are reportedly threatening to sue the publication. Additional details of the legal action have not been revealed.



MozMorrissey's comments read: "With the issue of immigration, it's very difficult because, although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears. If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won't hear an English accent. You'll hear every accent under the sun apart from the British accent."



Morrissey "expressed concern at how his previous comments could be interpreted" according to the Guardian, and conducted a follow-up interview, in which he said: "I just think that it would be construed that the reason I wouldn't wish to live in England is the immigration explosion. And that's not true at all."

The controversy has sparked a war of words between the former Smiths frontman and the publication, while the article's author Tim Jonze has requested that his byline be removed from everything but the Q&A, claiming dissatisfaction over the magazine's final edit.



 Quote:
Morrissey 'cowardly', claims NME journalist

03/12/2007 - 14:33:17

The journalist at the centre of the row over Morrissey's controversial comments on immigration has hit back at the former frontman of The Smiths - defiantly ridiculing his decision to take legal action.

Writer Tim Jonze says Morrissey made "ignorant, racially inflammatory statements" in his interview for British music magazine NME, and it was ludicrous for his legal team to claim he had been "stitched up".


“The gates of England are flooded. The country’s been thrown away”. Cover star Morrissey gives his most contentious interview in years.

In a statement posted on the Internet, Jonze said: "The 'I've been stitched up' card is the last bastion of someone who's said something offensive but is too scared to back this up, yet too stubborn to apologise.

"How can Morrissey possibly claim a stitch-up when the interview is printed in Q&A form, his quotes are recorded on tape and he wasn't even asked about immigration in the first place? It's truly cowardly."

The interview appeared in the NME on Wednesday. In it, Morrissey, 48, was quoted apparently criticising current levels of immigration to Britain after being asked if he would ever consider moving back to the UK from Rome.

This is not the first time NME magazine has fallen foul of Morrissey - the publication previously angered the singer's camp in 1992 when they printed a picture of the star draped in a Union Jack flag along with the title: 'Flying The Flag Or Flirting With Disaster?'


Which goes to show that xenophobia isn't just relegated to the United States nor to people I dislike.