"I was apparently sympathizing with paedophilia, I was sympathizing with rape, I was sympathizing with everything that would persuade anybody on the planet to stop listening to me"
Morrissey has unveiled a new video blog in which he addresses recent controversy – accusing critics of ‘derailing’ his new album ‘Low In High School’.
The former Smiths frontman recently spoke out to clarify controversial claims he made about Donald Trump and Kevin Spacey. The newspaper then backed up the original quotes by releasing the full audio of the original interview.
Now, Morrissey has claimed in his ‘December Speech’ that his comments were taken out of context by the media and those wishing to discredit him and his new album. He denies that he ever “sympathised with paedophilia and rape”.
Morrissey said:
“Suddenly, I was sympathizing with sexual harassment. I was apparently sympathizing with paedophilia, 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…”
“A few weeks ago I foolishly allowed Germany’s Der Spiegel into my life,” said his Morrissey in his previous denial of the comments. “Since they eagerly flew from beloved Berlin to beloved Los Angeles in order to talk and laugh, I assumed a common understanding.”
The singer then goes on to refute many aspects of the published interview, saying: “Would I kill Donald Trump? No, never. Would I support Kevin Spacey’s private proclivities? No, never. Would I ever support abuse of children? No, never. Would I support sexual harassment? No, never. Would I support rape? No, never. Would Der Spiegel convey my views fairly? No, never. Would I ever again speak to print media? No, never.”
