SAN FRANCISCO: Morrissey Files Sexual Assault Complaint Against Airport Security

“On leaving the US on 27 July I flew from San Francisco International Airport to London on flight BA 284. At 2:30 in the afternoon I went through the usual airport security procedure including the stand-up ‘scanner’, and all was well – no bleeps and nothing unusual. Before I could gather my belongings from the usual array of trays I was approached by an ‘airport security officer’ who stopped me, crouched before me and groped my penis and testicles. He quickly moved away as an older ‘airport security officer’ approached. The officer who sexually assaulted me was identified. Luckily I was accompanied by two members of British Airways Special Services, who were horrified at the sexual attack and suggested that I lodge a complaint. The British Airways Special Services employees assured me that a complaint was worthwhile, and so I filed the appropriate information.” - Morrissey, in a statement published today by the San Francisco Chronicle.

HomoQuotable - Morrissey

"Obama has mystified me because he doesn’t appear to support black people when they need it most. Ferguson being an obvious example. If Michael Brown had instead been one of Obama’s daughters, I don’t think Obama would be insisting that the nation support the so-called security forces! How can they be called security forces if they make the people feel insecure? Obama seems to be white inside. There is an obvious racial division in America and it’s exploding and Obama doesn’t ever support the innocent black people who are murdered by white police officers who are never held accountable. You would expect him to be more understanding of what it means to be black. But so far, he hasn’t been.​ There’s no point in continually saying that we must support the police when it is obvious to the entire world that the police in America are out of control." - Morrissey, speaking to Alternative Nation.

Tweet Of The Day - PETA

Morrissey Reveals Cancer Diagnosis

Morrissey yesterday revealed a recent cancer diagnosis. Via BBC News:

The ex-Smiths star has recently battled bouts of ill health but revealed the cancer news during an email interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo. "I have had four cancer-scrapings, but so what. If I die, I die," he wrote. "If I don't, then I don't. As I sit here today I feel very well." The singer started his latest European tour in Lisbon, Portugal, on Monday. In the exchange with journalist Javier Blanquez, he wrote: "I know I look quite bad on recent photographs, but I am afraid this is what illness does to the overall countenance. I will save relaxation for when I'm dead." Morrissey's representatives were not available to comment. The announcement comes after the star cancelled part of a US tour when he was treated in hospital for a respiratory infection in June. He also scrapped 22 US concerts last year due to ill health. His other recent ailments have included pneumonia, an ulcer, the throat condition Barrett's oesophagus and anaemia.

(Tipped by JMG reader Chris)

PETA Creates Video For Morrissey

Stereogum reports:

Morrissey has never been shy about any of his views, but he’s been an especially vocal advocate of animal rights over the past 30 years. The latest manifestation of this crusade is a PETA-produced animated video to be aired during Morrissey’s upcoming tour dates. As explained on YouTube, “The video takes viewers on a harrowing journey as they witness — through the eyes of one terrified bird — the typical experience of chickens raised for meat. Will our young chick survive what 8 billion chickens each year cannot?” In a clever bit of repurposing, the action comes soundtracked by [the 1992] Your Arsenal jam “I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday.”

SAN JOSE: Morrissey Ends Tour-Opening Concert After Fans Rush The Stage

Stereogum recaps the mayhem:

One of the old visual trademarks of a Morrissey show is that fans will rush onstage to hug him and he will go on singing, ignoring them, an apt visual metaphor for the way he’s conducted much of his career. But last night, it seems, some fans took it a bit far. Morrissey opened a North American tour last night at San Jose’s City National Civic, marking his first Bay Area show in some years after he’d canceled a few area shows. And during the encore, fans started doing the rushing-onstage-and-hugging thing, and a few got so physical that they were basically bodyslamming him. It’s a bit tough to see, from the fan-made footage, what was going on, but he cut the show off mid-song and did not return.

Morrissey At The Nobel Concert

Morrissey performed three numbers at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo on Thursday night. Stereogum ponders:

His voice sounded strong, and he looked as engaged as he ever looked. But he still offered a few questions to puzzle out. For instance: Why was he wearing what appeared to be enormous wide-legged sweatpants? And why were all the members of his backing band rocking matching Hustler T-shirts? Finally, why would an event like this, which seems to operate entirely on sincerity, book a hall-of-fame arch ironist like Moz in the first place?

Moz Book De-Gayed For US Release

Morrissey's autobiography was launched stateside on Tuesday, but minus the part about his love affair with a man.

The former The Smiths star published his hotly-anticipated autobiography in the U.K. in October (13), and the book hit headlines over a section in which the rocker confirms long-running rumours he had a relationship with snapper Jake Walters in the mid-1990s. The tome, titled Autobiography, details several anecdotes involving Walters, and Morrissey writes movingly of their two years together, but in the U.S. release, which was published on Tuesday (03Dec13), many details in the original book are missing or edited down. A spokesman for the book's publishers had not responded to a request for comment as Wenn went to press.

Maybe the boyfriend complained?

Morrissey Wishes You Happy Thankskilling

"Please ignore the abysmal example set by President Obama who, in the name of Thanksgiving, supports torture as 45 million birds are horrifically abused; dragged through electrified stun baths, and then have their throats slit. And President Obama laughs. Haha, so funny! As Ingrid Newkirk from PETA points out, turkey 'meat' is one of "our nation's top killers", causing heart-attacks and strokes in humans due to saturated animal fats and cholesterol. And President Obama laughs. Further, the meat industry is responsible for 51% of human-caused greenhouse-gas emission, therefore the embarrassingly stupid White House 'turkey pardon' is open support for a viciously cruel and environmentally irresponsible industry. And President Obama laughs." - Morrissey, in an online post titled "Happy Thankskilling."

RELATED: Here's another message from Ingrid Newkirk: "Even if animal experiments did result in a cure for AIDS, of which there is no chance, I’d be against it on moral grounds."

UPDATE: Popcorn has won the Turkey pardon challenge.

The Greatest Album Of All Time?

According to Britain's New Music Express, The Smith's 1986 album, The Queen Is Dead, is the greatest of all time.

In his number one best-selling book Autobiography, Morrissey attacks the NME and accuses the influential magazine of conspiring to "get" him. But it seems that any grudge once held by the alternative music publication's staff has long since passed, as they've named The Smiths' 1986 album The Queen Is Dead as the greatest in history. In the pages of its latest issue, which contains a full rundown of "The 500 greatest albums of all time", the NME claimed that the record is just as relevant today as it was 27 years ago. "There's a perverse national pride to be gleaned from the knowledge that Britain was just as broken in 1986 as it is in 2013," it said. "No album is made in a vacuum, but The Queen Is Dead is one of the select few that seems to transcend its influences and synthesise them into something singular and new." The album beat The Beatles' Revolver, which came second, and third-placed Hunky Dory by David Bowie.

The Queen Is Dead would be somewhere in my own top twenty as it contains four of my five favorite Smiths tracks. The NME's full list of 500 is here, but annoyingly you have to click through each one. Their methodology is here.

Morrissey On Margaret Thatcher

"Thatcher was not a strong or formidable leader. She simply did not give a shit about people, and this coarseness has been neatly transformed into bravery by the British press who are attempting to re-write history in order to protect patriotism. As a result, any opposing view is stifled or ridiculed, whereas we must all endure the obligatory praise for Thatcher from David Cameron without any suggestion from the BBC that his praise just might be an outburst of pro-Thatcher extremism from someone whose praise might possibly protect his own current interests. The fact that Thatcher ignited the British public into street-riots, violent demonstrations and a social disorder previously unseen in British history is completely ignored by David Cameron in 2013. In truth, of course, no British politician has ever been more despised by the British people than Margaret Thatcher." - Morrissey, adding that he expects tear gas to be used on protesters during Thatcher's funeral. (Via Pitchfork)

Quote Of The Day - Morrissey

"War, I thought, was the most negative aspect of male heterosexuality. If more men were homosexual, there would be no wars, because homosexual men would never kill other men, whereas heterosexual men love killing other men. They even get medals for it. Women don’t go to war to kill other women. Wars and armies and nuclear weapons are essentially heterosexual hobbies." - Morrissey, speaking to Rookie Magazine.

Johnny Marr - Upstarts

(Via Towleroad)