Morrissey doesn't have the best reputation in the music industry, and much of that is for good reason. The ex-Smiths frontman has beef with everyone from Johnny Marr to other fellow musicians to his former label, and has spewed ultra-conservative talking points on more than a few occasions. Now, he insists some of these claims have been inflated, and he's launched legal action against an anonymous person who allegedly has been running a "decades-long campaign of fraud, disinformation and defamation" against him.
Music Business Worldwide reported on Thursday (April 3) that the singer sent a cease and desist to a person of interest who has been allegedly manning multiple social media accounts that made "distressing, harmful and libellous" posts about Moz almost daily, at some points, multiple times daily. The letter — sent by law firm Levy & McRae — also claims that the person in question also left written notes at Morrissey's home. The police have been notified of the situation by the firm.
The libelous posts in question pertain to Morrissey's political affiliations; the artist's legal team claims the individual ran a "sophisticated attempt to associate the artist with false narratives designed to defame him … to be aimed at supporting the perpetrators of racist and far-right ideology by falsely associating an influential artist with their diatribe."
Morrissey has followed up the report with a statement on his website, where he says Web Sherrif — an online protection service that has worked with Beyoncé, Prince, Radiohead and Bob Dylan — is aiding him in uncovering the supposed smear campaign:
The campaign against Morrissey is characterized by fake websites, impersonation on social media, identity fraud, and sustained harassment on Facebook, X, Twitter, Instagram — all social networks that Morrissey has not ever visited. Emerging online data is falsely signed in Morrissey's name in an attempt to associate the artist with false narratives designed to destroy his career. These postings date back several years. Morrissey has no personal presence on such networks, and has not ever possessed a smartphone.
Later in the post, Morrissey seemingly blames this fraudster for 2021's Bonfire of Teenagers not being released, as well as its follow-up album he says he finished last year.
The aforementioned cease and desist letter calls Morrissey "a pacifist, apolitical and [someone who] has never joined a political party or voted," despite his voicing of distinctly less-than-liberal opinions in the past few years. He wore a pin in support of the right-wing For Britain group at a Tonight Show performance in 2019, and went off about the "con-vid" pandemic in 2021. He also blames cancel culture and "criminalized" free speech for his music remaining in limbo. Those views were expressed largely via the artist's own Morrissey Central, and not on platforms allegedly used by the perpetrator.