Morrissey Wins Court-Ordered Apology
By Zio
by Tom Worger Photo by Andrew Kendall
Word Magazine formally apologized to Morrissey today, for publishing an article that implied the former Smiths star was a racist hypocrite.
The article, published March 2008, followed an interview in which Morrissey said he did not want to return to his home country because of Britain’s influx of immigration. “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.”
The interview was used as part of a larger article in the December 2007 issue of NME, in which the anonymous author claimed Morrissey was a racist and hypocrite (Morrissey’s parents were immigrants from Ireland). These same opinions were later voiced in Word Magazine’s March 2008 article.
Morrissey released a statement today, saying, “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.”