Morrissey has now released a video statement in response to the release of the audio from his now infamous interview with German magazine Der Spiegel.
The interview that was conducted in person in Los Angeles this past November caused Morrissey to release several statements online and on stage questioning the integrity of the transcription and editing of the article which he claimed misrepresented his views and statements regarding multiculturalism, borders, Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, and more.
Here is the new statement published last night via Sam Esty Rayner’s YouTube Channel, which opens with the disclaimer that the Mancunian singer is still ill from the influenza that caused him to cancel several dates closing his recent North American tour in support of his new 11th studio album Low In High School.
Here are some transcriptions of Morrissey’s Statement from the video courtesy of Stereogum:
Suddenly, I was sympathizing with sexual harassment. I was apparently sympathizing with pedophilia, I was sympathizing with rape, I was sympathizing with everything that would persuade anybody on the planet to stop listening to me. Of course, none of those assumptions are true. I do not sympathize with anything like that. You can hear it in the tone of my voice…
However, this is the world we now live in with the print media. It seems to me that, in the first place, they get very angry or very excited if you stop to say something that people are listening to or that reflect the will of the people. They get very nervous. They won’t allow it. They shut it down and so forth.
But also, it seems to me that, in England at the moment, the right wing has adopted a left wing stance, and the left wing has adopted a right wing stance, so everybody’s confused, and nobody seems to know what people mean. This shuts down free speech. This shuts down any open debate about anything. And consequently, we’re all in a mess, and we don’t know where we stand.
So I fear that the campaign for Low In High School and for the surrounding singles was derailed and damaged purposely by the haters. They’re not listening to the music. They’re not listening to anything, really. They see my name, and they want to get rid of it as quickly as possible. And as I said, in many ways, they do succeed. There’s not really that much you can do about it. You have to live with it…
Morrissey goes on to question his ability to live and perform in the US given his statement in the Der Spiegel interview regarding pushing a button that would kill Donald Trump:
As a further resort of Der Spiegel, I was cross-examined by the American Secret Service, who were very, very nice. And I do understand their position. So that went very, very well, and they assured me that they have no cause for concern. But it was a direct result of Der Spiegel that I was cross-examined, which is very, very sad. So congratulations, Der Spiegel. You achieved everything that you set out to do. Whether again I’m allowed free access to America, I really don’t know. I have to wait and see if I can enter the country again.
And then Morrissey seemingly reiterates some of the fears illustrated in Low In High School’s lead single Spent The Day in Bed:
Nobody has any answers. Everybody is very, very frightened about everything. So by being frightened about everything, you simply target people, willingly, about whom you know nothing. And you write things about people whom you’ve never met, and you denigrate them and destroy them because there’s a certain blame and shame culture that has arisen, where all of us are destroyed constantly, no matter what we do.
