Morrissey has won his court case that will now allow him to sue English music magazine NME for libel after he accused them of portraying him as a “racist and a blatant hypocrite” and “deliberately twisted” his words to make him appear that way.
The Ex-Smiths singer will be suing Conor McNicholas, who was the editor at the time, and the magazine’s publisher IPC Media for a quote that was published saying: “The gates of England are flooded. The country’s been thrown away… Although I don’t have anything against people from other countries, the higher influx into England, the more the British identity disappears.”
A British senior libel judge handed down a decision to let the former Smiths frontman set a High Court date for his accusations against the magazine made almost 4 years ago. The magazine’s solicitors had argued that the length of time it took for the accusation to be made, and for it to get to court, shows that Morrissey isn’t really interested, and that nothing has happened to his reputation since the article was published.
Despite losing this case, the magazine are confident that they will come out as winners and are glad they have the opportunity to bring the matter to a close.
The complexity, expense and length of libel trials means they are often avoided, with only the last libel trial to be heard back in 2009.
