6 days ago
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Morrissey has initiated legal action against an alleged online troll who has led a “decades-long” campaign of defamation against the former Smiths singer.
As reported by Music Business Worldwide, Morrissey has retained UK-based law firm Levy & McRae to pursue action against a person believed to be responsible for posting “distressing, harmful, and libelous” content about him “on an almost daily basis… multiple times per day.”
According to the cease-and-desist letter, the alleged perpetrator also physically targeted Morrissey, leaving “written notes at and to the home of our client” — an act supposedly captured on CCTV — and endangering members of his family, putting them “at substantial risk of physical and emotional harm.”
The letter also accuses the alleged perpetrator of injecting “far-right politics” into the posts to manufacture a misleading public image of Morrissey, perpetuating “a harmful global narrative that is inaccurate, defamatory and has driven the media to repeat these falsehoods.”
As the letter puts it, Morrissey is “a pacifist, apolitical, and [someone who] has never joined a political party or voted.”
With this action, Levy & McRae have demanded the alleged perpetrator to “cease and desist from writing any material whatsoever about our client online for all time coming.” They have also reported the situation to the police.
The legal action reportedly came as a result of a ” wide-reaching investigation” conducted by tonline protection agency Web Sheriff, which uncovered a “decades-long campaign of fraud, disinformation, and defamation” targeting Morrissey.
Web Sheriff said in a statement to Music Business Worldwide that it identified a “person of interest” and expects to name further individuals across the UK, Europe, and the US who have participated in a “sophisticated attempt” to falsely associate Morrissey with racist and far-right ideologies.
“The purpose of the fraud appears to be aimed at supporting the perpetrators of racist and far-right ideology by falsely associating an influential artist with their diatribe,” the statement read.
Morrissey has indeed faced past criticism for controversial political stances — most notably his breif support for the now-defunct For Britain party — but he has publicly denied any alignment with far-right politics.
Nonetheless, he has made his share of divisive public statements in recent years, between revisiting his beef with Sparks, claiming that his “nobody” will release his music due to a war on “free speech” in England, and getting in spats with former bandmate Johnny Marr.
Meanwhile, he will be hitting the road for 2025 tour dates later this month, including stops in San Diego, Tucson, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, and more. Get tickets here.
English (US) · 