Morrissey is threatening British music magazine New Musical Express with a lawsuit over a scathing story they published about him in this week’s magazine. In what their website calls, “his most contentious interview in years,” they allege he spoke the following words about the state of his homeland:

Although I don’t have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears. So the price is enormous.

If you travel to Germany, it’s still absolutely Germany. If you travel to Sweden, it still has a Swedish identity. But travel to England and you have no idea where you are.

How come no one ever cites Zimbabwe in these examples? No matter. His Moziness, who has spent the last decade living in Los Angeles and Rome, is worried that the remarks might make Britons think he doesn’t live there because of brown people. NOOOOO! (Well, seriously, who would move to L.A. to get away from immigrants?) BUT! In another fascinating twist, Morrissey’s manager Merck Mercuriadis is chronicling the whole saga here where he quotes a letter sent by the story’s author Tim Jonze before the magazine’s release stating:

I should mention that for reasons I’ll probably never understand, NME have rewritten the Moz (Morrisey) piece. I had a read and virtually none of it is my words or beliefs so I’ve asked for my name to be taken off it. Just so you know when you read it.

And indeed, according to one blogger on Guardian Unlimited, the story’s credits appear as “”Interview - Tim Jonze; Words - NME.” Weird! On top of all this, NME has a history of accusing Morrissey of this sort of thing. In the 1990s, they accused him of “flirting with disaster” and “racist imagery” when he draped himself in the British flag onstage.

Lawyers were threatening legal action if NME didn’t publish a retraction by 13:00 GMT, which was 8 AM EST today. As far as we know, the magazine has not removed their rather unflattering cover from the site (pictured above), but rather, added more inflammatory quotes from the article to the page. Will Morrissey throw a hissy fit? We can only hope! Stay tuned.

Morrissey insists on NME apology [BBC]
NME - MORRISEY THREATENS LEGAL ACTION AGAINST ‘DEFAMATORY’ NME COMMENTS [Contact Music]
Morrissey vs NME: Mozgate Part II [Guardian Unlimted]
Morrissey vs. the NME [True To You]