Morrissey now denies saying shitty things about sexual harassment to German newspaper
While maintaining his new, no-print-media rule, Morrissey has still managed to break the news of his denial regarding some shitty comments he made to a Spiegel Online interviewer last month. In mid-November, the Smiths frontman spoke with the German outlet about a variety of subjects, including the still-cresting wave of sexual harassment allegations (and, to a lesser extent, repercussions), which he said had become so broad in their definition that “every person on this planet is guilty.” In Anthony Rapp’s case, Morrissey also found a way to shift some of the blame from Kevin Spacey, who entered some kind of rehab after being accused by multiple men of sexual assault or harassment, to a then-14-year-old Rapp and his parents.
As we noted at the time, the interview was translated from its German text to English by a Twitter user, so it’s likely some nuance was lost along the way. But, Moz lost plausible deniability when he repeated several of his sexual harassment remarks in an interview with The Times, which was going to print just as the Spiegel Online piece was making the rounds. He told that British publication that we can’t all get in a snit about sexual harassment because “often it can be just a pathetic attempt at courtship.”
Morrissey followed up that interview with an onstage announcement that he’d be avoiding all print interviews going forward. And now he’s issued a rather lyrical refutation of the quotes in the Spiegel Online interview, though he’s remained mum (for a change) on what he told The Times.
In his post, Morrissey takes swipes at publications and today’s pop stars before stating that his request for the unedited audio from the interview has been refused. Spiegel Online hasn’t responded directly, but the journalist who conducted the interview, Juliane Liebert, did tweet that Morrissey’s statements were published verbatim, and that she’s made the recording available to the publication.