In an aside to the much previously reported and, in case you wondered, still ongoing legal dispute between Morrissey and the NME over that interview last year in which the music weekly allegedly twisted the former Smiths man's words to make him sound a little bit racist, a statement has been read out in court in which Word magazine, who were accused of making similar implications of racism in their own Morrissey article, have formally stated they never meant to imply any such thing.
That fact was primarily outlined in a rather verbose statement delivered to the court by Morrissey's legal man John Reid. Outlining his client's problem with the Word article, he told the court: "In this libel action I represent the claimant, the singer and musician, Steven Patrick Morrissey, professionally known as Morrissey. My Friend, Caroline Kean, represents the defendants, Development Hell and [Word editor] Mark Ellen. The background to this claim is that the March 2008 edition of Word Magazine included an article by David Quantick concerning the claimant, Mr Morrissey. It has been drawn to the defendants' attention that the closing paragraphs of Mr Quantick's article could have been construed to suggest that Mr Morrissey was a racist, held racist opinions or that [as the child of migrant parents[ he was a hypocrite. The article suggested that Mr Morrissey has in the past paid lip service only to anti-racism".
Regarding Word's subsequent qualification of the article, he continued: "The defendants never intended the article to have the meanings suggested above and wish to make absolutely clear that they disassociate themselves entirely from any such inferences that might be drawn from the article. The defendants accept that it would be absurd to accuse Mr Morrissey of being a racist or of espousing racist views. They equally accept that Mr Morrissey is not a hypocrite, in relation in particular to the views he has expressed in the past in relation to British cultural identity. The defendants accept that Mr Morrissey is well known as a keen supporter of anti-racist groups and the defendants wish to make absolutely clear that they never intended the article to suggest that Mr Morrissey was anything other than a sincere supporter of anti-racism initiatives".
For those that want confirmation of all this from Word themselves, their legal rep, the aforementioned Kean, added: "On behalf of the defendants, I confirm everything my friend, the claimant's solicitor, has said. The defendants offer their sincere apologies to the claimant. They hope that by making this statement, the matter will be clarified once and for all and the record will have been set straight".
Responding to all this, Morrissey said in a statement this morning: "I am obviously delighted with this victory and the clearing of my name in public where it is loud and clear for all to hear. The NME have calculatedly tried to damage my integrity and to label me as a racist in order to boost their diminishing circulation. Word Magazine made the mistake of repeating those allegations, which they now accept are false and, as a result, have apologised in open court. I will now continue to pursue my legal action against the NME and its editor until they do the same".