Recently, Morrissey has been in the news for beefing with his ex-bandmate Johnny Marr, his former record label Capitol, and most recently the long-running art-pop duo Sparks. Now, he's got another adversary, and this one seems more serious than the others. Last Thursday, Music Business Insider reported that Morrissey is launching legal action against an unnamed figure who has allegedly been running a "decades-long campaign of fraud, disinformation, and defamation" designed to tie Morrissey to far-right politics, according to the online protection firm Web Sheriff. On Sunday, Morrissey's website posted a statement explaining the action.
In a statement to Music Business Insider, Web Sheriff claims that it has identified a "person of interest" behind what it describes as an online harassment campaign, and the firm expects to identify more offenders "imminently, in both Britain and Europe, as well as the United States." The firm claims to have evidence of a "sophisticated attempt to associate the artist with false narratives designed to defame him... to be aimed at supporting the perpetrators of racist and far-right ideology by falsely associating an influential artist with their diatribe."
Last month, lawyers representing Morrissey sent a cease-and-desist letter to one person who has allegedly been using social media accounts to post "distressing, harmful and libellous" material about Morrissey and who has also supposedly "left and/or posted written notes at and to the home of our client." The letter describes Morrissey as "a pacifist, apolitical and [someone who] has never joined a political party or voted." The firm has also reported those claims to UK police. Morrissey has long denied any association with far-right politics, though he famously faced criticism for wearing a badge supporting the right-wing extremist group For Britain while performing on The Tonight Show in 2019.
The statement on Morrissey's website claims that the online campaign against Morrissey "is characterized by fake websites, impersonation on social media, identity fraud, and sustained harassment on Facebook, X, Twitter, Instagram -- all social networks that Morrissey has not ever visited" and that all of this has been done "to destroy his career." The statement claims that Morrissey "has been unable to release music in the United Kingdom for five years," and it mentions his unreleased LP Bonfire Of Teenagers, as well as another unreleased LP that was recorded last year. Here's the full text:
WHAT HAS HAPPENED
The Web Sheriff (Los Angeles and London) are pioneers and leaders in online protection.
The Web Sheriff have indirectly contacted Morrissey having discovered an online campaign of fraud, disinformation and defamation targeting Morrissey. The scale of the manipulation is one of the worst and most malicious ever seen by the team, who have worked on similar cases for Beyonce, Prince, Bob Dylan, Adele and Radiohead.
The campaign against Morrissey is characterized by fake websites, impersonation on social media, identity fraud, and sustained harassment on Facebook, X, Twitter, Instagram - all social networks that Morrissey has not ever visited. Emerging online data is falsely signed in Morrissey's name in an attempt to associate the artist with false narratives designed to destroy his career. These postings date back several years. Morrissey has no personal presence on such networks, and has not ever possessed a smartphone.
The Web Sheriff's uncover will be delivered to the British Police Force's National Cyber Crimes Unit (NCCU).
Morrissey has been unable to release music in the United Kingdom for five years. His 2021 album Bonfire of Teenagers produced by multi-Grammy winner Andrew Watt remains unreleased, as does the follow-up album of 2024.
On May 31 Morrissey begins a lengthy European tour starting at the 3arena in Dublin. Many of the concerts are sold-out, and sales in Manchester remain just shy of 17,000. Seating at the Zenith in Paris has been extended due to ticket demand. Concerts in Turkey, Germany and Croatia were instant sell-outs.
You can see the statement for yourself here.
