Legal

Morrissey fan site publishes statement on NME libel dispute

By | Published on Tuesday 8 November 2011

Morrissey

Following last month’s news that Morrissey’s libel action against the NME would be allowed to continue, a statement outlining the singer’s claims against the music weekly was posted on the True To You fan site this weekend. Although it’s not clear exactly who issued the statement, it seems to come from an official source.

In it, the singer’s various claims in relation to the case are outlined. At the heart of the action, of course, is the allegation that the NME’s then editor Conor McNicholas twisted an interview with the singer written by journalist Tim Jonze so that Morrissey’s remarks, especially about immigration into the UK and its impact on British identity, seemed more controversial and, arguably, racist in tone.

Although the NME’s relationship with Morrissey had been rocky since the early 1990s, the statement implies that McNicholas had a personal grievance with the singer because – concurrently with Jonze’s interview being arranged – he had refused an invitation to accept a God-like Genius prize at that year’s NME Awards.

When, shortly afterwards, McNicholas allegedly reworked the magazine’s yet-to-be-published interview with the singer – the statement claims – Jonze, who had originally told Morrissey’s manager how pleased he was with the piece, got back in touch to tell the singer’s camp he was angry about edits that had been made and that he wanted to distance himself from the final version.

Quite what was said between Jonze and then Morrissey manager Merck Mercuriadis during this time will presumably be considered if and when this case comes to court, though, as the True To You statement admits, Jonze, now working for The Guardian, is backing the NME’s argument in this case, which suggests he remembers things differently.

Morrissey’s statement also deals with NME publisher IPC’s unsuccessful attempt to have the somewhat late in the day (the interview was published in 2007) libel action dismissed. As previously reported, one of the arguments put forward by IPC’s lawyers was that it would be unfair to expect McNicholas, Jonze and current NME editor Krissi Murison-Hodge (Dep Ed at the time) to remember conversations and editorial decisions had and made over four years ago. That argument was rejected by judge Michael Tugendhat.

On that argument, the True To You statement says: “The NME’s lawyers argued that it would be unreasonable to expect them [McNicholas, Jonze and Murison-Hodge] to remember the events of 2007, yet they went on to stress that if the case went to trial, they would wish to cross-examine Morrissey on events leading back not three, but nineteen years, to 1992, when the NME aggressively ran an ‘is Morrissey racist?’ campaign”.

Other claims made in the statement include that IPC would have pursued the singer for over £100,000 in legal costs had the publisher been successful in its attempt to have the case dismissed, and also that when the dispute over the interview first arose shortly after publication McNicholas told the Love Music Hate Racism campaign that if it supported Morrissey in the fall out he’d not give the organisation any more editorial support.

Assuming the statement comes from someone inside the Morrissey camp, it’s not 100% clear what they hope to achieve by publishing the singer’s claims, though the tone suggests that the singer is still in a fighting mood on this dispute, possibly suggesting an out of court settlement is unlikely, and an eventful court hearing will follow in due course.



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