NME apologises to Morrissey over controversial article

London: The magazine ‘NME’ has publicly apologised to Morrissey over an article that was published in 2007, which, according to the singer, suggested he was racist. The former Smiths star sued the magazine, claiming that it “deliberately twisted” his comments on immigration. The NME and publisher IPC apologised to the singer in a joint statement. “We do not believe [Morrissey] is a racist,” it said. “We didn’t think we were saying he was and we apologise to Morrissey if he or anyone else misunderstood our piece in that way. We never set out to upset Morrissey and we hope we can both get back to doing what we do best.” An NME spokeswoman revealed that the magazine was “pleased it has buried the hatchet” with the singer,” a leading channel has reported. She also insisted that the matter of the libel case was now closed and that the settlement did not involve payment of any damages or legal costs. The case, which had been due to go to trial next month after the 53-year-old singer, won a pre-trial hearing against former NME editor Conor McNicholas and IPC at the High Court last October. The singer, who welcomed the verdict, claimed that he wanted his day in court to clear his name. The original 2007 article, which was titled ‘Morrissey: Big Mouth Strikes Again’, quoted him as allegedly saying, “Although I don’t have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears.” Morrissey was also quoted as saying “the gates of England are flooded. The country’s been thrown away.” ANI