After years of disputes, Morrissey and NME have reached a peaceful settlement in a longstanding libel case. What might have become a costly matter in court was resolved in a way that avoided payment of any damages or legal costs. NME’s 2007 article that sparked the controversy, entitled “Morrissey: Big mouth strikes again” allegedly portrayed the singer unfairly as a racist.
The case was originally planned to go to court this summer, but Morrissey and NME have reached a settlement. It appears that more than anything, the singer simply wanted his name cleared. As reported by Music Week, Morrissey met former NME editor Conor McNicholas and publisher IPC at the High Court in October last year, but recently settled out of court. Here is NME’s official statement:
NME is pleased that it has buried the hatchet with Morrissey in respect of the libel case he brought against us in 2007.
Morrissey sued over an article based on interviews with him which he believed accused him of racism.
After an ongoing dialogue with Morrissey and his representatives, NME today publishes a clarification in the magazine and online which makes it clear that we do not believe we ever called Morrissey a racist and nor do we believe he is.
We have said sorry to Morrissey for any misunderstanding that may have arisen.
The settlement with Morrissey does not involve payment of any damages or legal costs (other than a small sum of costs which the court ordered NME to pay last year when we applied unsuccessfully to have the case struck out on grounds of delay).
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