Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report
Billy Bragg has responded to Morrissey ‘s latest string of inflammatory comments, by saying he feels sorry for the singer’s fans.
The former Smiths frontman caused yet another controversy in an interview with his nephew, which was posted on his own website.
During the conversation, Morrissey reaffirmed his support for the far-right, anti-Islam party For Britain , and claimed “everyone ultimately prefers their own race” when addressing the allegations of racism he has been face with.
Morrissey's most controversial quotesShow all 29 1 /29Morrissey's most controversial quotes Morrissey's most controversial quotes On racism “If you call someone racist in modern Britain you are telling them that you have run out of words. You are shutting the debate down and running off. The word is meaningless now. Everyone ultimately prefers their own race … does this make everyone racist?”
NBCU/Getty
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On Lady Gaga In an interview with Billboard, Morrissey calls Lady Gaga “nothing new” and says her style is “fraudulent, and the exact opposite of erotic.” He also refers to Madonna as “McDonna” and says Michael Bublé is “famous and meaningless”.
Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On dance music: "It's the refuge for the mentally deficient. It's made by dull people for dull people."
Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On London mayor Sadiq Khan "London is debased. The Mayor of London tells us about 'Neighborhood policin' — what is 'policin’? He tells us London is an 'amazin' city. What is 'amazin'? This is the Mayor of London! And he cannot talk properly!"
Getty
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On Madonna “Madonna reinforces everything absurd and offensive. Desperate womanhood. Madonna is closer to organised prostitution than anything else.”
Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On Beyonce: "The rhino is now more or less extinct, and it's not because of global warming or shrinking habitats. It's because of Beyoncé's handbags"
Buda Mendes/Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On animal cruelty in China “You can’t help but feel that the Chinese people are a subspecies.”
Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On royal family: "The arrogance of the British royals is staggering, absolutely staggering"
Getty
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On creativity: On being creative: “I'd rather produce art than become art.”
Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On Prince Charles: "I wish that Prince Charles had been shot. I think it would have made the world a more interesting place."
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On sexuality: "Unfortunately, I am not homosexual... In technical fact, I am humasexual. I am attracted to humans. But, of course, not many."
Getty
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On Bob Geldof: "Bob Geldof is a nauseating character. Band Aid was the most self-righteous platform ever in the history of popular music."
Getty
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On growing old: “Age shouldn’t affect you. You’re either marvellous or you’re boring, regardless of your age.”
Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On being alcoholic: “Life would be so colourful if only I had a drink problem.”
GETTY IMAGES
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On being sexy: “I think I must be, absolutely, a total sex object. In every sense of the word.”
EPA
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On music industry: “I lost myself to music at a very early age, and I remained there.”
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On Taylor Swift: The maximum trimmings [at the Brits] divert your attention from the fact that Taylor Swift has nothing to do with Coventry or Wrexham. To pull off rank fraud in tellyland is not a difficult undertaking, especially if you have the entire population of Peru dancing around you as you mime your song."
Provided by Shore Fire Media
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On grooming: "I do maintain that if your hair is wrong, your entire life is wrong.”
Rex Features
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On Elton John: “He is pushing his face in all the time and telling us about his private life. Nobody's interested. He should just go away."
AFP/Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On charisma: “I'm not very good at being dull."
Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On musicians: “Artists aren't really people. I'm actually 40 per cent papier mache.”
Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On love: On romance: “I do think it's possible to go through life and never fall in love, or find someone who loves you.”
Getty
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On failed assassination attempt on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: "The sorrow of the IRA Brighton bombing is that Thatcher escaped unscathed."
Getty Images
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On the music addiction: “Music is like a drug, but there are no rehabilitation centres.”
Associated Press
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On vanity: On vanity: “Well, I am an extremely beautiful person.”
Rex Features
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On death: "I have an unswayable obsession with death. If there was a magical pill that one could take that would retire you from the world, I would take it."
Reuters
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On Kate Middleton Morrissey links the suicide of a London nurse to the Duchess Kate Middleton. “There’s no blame placed at Kate Middleton, who was in the hospital for, as far as I can see, absolutely no reason . . . She feels no shame about the death of this woman. The arrogance of the British royals is staggering, absolutely staggering.”
PA
Morrissey's most controversial quotes On his legacy: “When they bury me in a church and chuck earth on my grave, I’d like the words ‘Well, at least he tried’ engraved on my tombstone.”
Morrissey's most controversial quotes
Rex
Bragg has since responded, telling The Big Issue : “I think he’s decided that he wants to betray everything he ever said in the Smiths , and he’s broken the hearts of a lot of people…
“The Smiths expressed a lot of people’s own sense of disconnect with society and helped them to find their own identity, and he’s totally trashed that.
“I’m heartbroken for them because I’m a big Smiths fan, too. And I’m heartbroken for Johnny Marr because he’s genuine, a lovely guy, and he doesn’t deserve to have his legacy dragged through the dirt…
He added: “I have no sympathy for [Morrissey], no respect for him, but I have a lot of sympathy and respect for his audience.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies