So, whether or not this weekend's Love Music Hate Racism concert in London was successful in its bid to stop the BNP from winning any seats in the London Assembly I guess we'll find out on polling day this Thursday. What we do know is that the whole venture provided for another skirmish in the ongoing Morrissey v NME war, which was reignited last year, of course, with that interview in which Mozza seemingly criticised the high levels of immigration into the UK.
It all began on Friday when a press release arrived revealing that Morrissey had raised £75,000 in donations to ensure the anti-racism mini-fest could go ahead - apparently the event had been in jeopardy after a sponsor pulled out at the last minute. The implication in that statement was that it was the NME that had pulled out as sponsor, putting the viability of the event into doubt, though NME publisher IPC quickly denied that that was so.
Morrissey's statement read thus: "This is a historic event spreading an important, anti-racist message so it must be allowed to go ahead. Love Music Hate Racism got in touch and explained that the NME had pulled support, possibly as a result of their association with me, and asked if I could help as they had not been able to replace them. This is something I am committed to and we appreciate everyone coming together so quickly to make it happen". Mozza had put in a chunk of cash himself, while persuading his management, booking agents and promoters to also contribute. Organisers of the event told reporters they were "extremely grateful for Morrissey's generous financial contribution".
LMHR's own statement on the matter, while welcoming Morrissey's donation, does not specifically state what had caused the shortfall in their budgets, but IPC told reporters on Friday that it definitely wasn't them.
They told reporters: "We can categorically confirm that NME is not the 'major sponsor' which Love Music Hate Racism alludes to. While supporting Love Music Hate Racism on a number of fronts in the last year - including giving away a themed covermounted CD album - NME had no planned commercial participation in this weekend's Carnival. Of course NME will have an editorial presence at the event and plans to report on it in the usual way".
Morrissey's legal action against the NME in relation to last year's interview is ongoing.