A Morrissey tour T-shirt pairing an image of black author and civil rights campaigner James Baldwin with one of Morrissey’s most famous lyrics has landed the former Smiths singer in yet another controversy.
Music press attacked the merchandise produced for the singer’s forthcoming tour of the US and Mexico, which features a headshot of the Another Country writer coupled with the lyric from the song Unloveable: “I wear black on the outside / ’cause black is how I feel on the inside.”
Describing the design as “completely bone-headed, absurdly tone deaf, pretty much totally racist”, Claire Lobenfeld wrote for the Factmag fanzine: “This unadvisable tee will be available for purchase at Morrissey’s upcoming North American tour. But please don’t get it.” Pitchfork deemed it “problematic”, Billboard called it “all a bit uncomfortable, to be perfectly honest”, while Spin writer Jeremy Gordon pleaded: “Morrissey … rethink this.”
The Baldwin T-shirt has now been removed from Morrissey’s official online store, Mporium. The singer has yet to publicly acknowledge the controversy or the removal.
In his 2013 autobiography, Morrissey recounted his love of Baldwin’s books Go Tell It on the Mountain and The Fire Next Time. However, his appreciation of the late author has not prevented criticism. On its website, publisher Melville House said: “This particular shirt is a regrettable misfire of internet mash-up culture, in which the curated mingling of disparate words and images devalue one another, rather than enrich one another.”
The Manchester-born singer has found himself at the centre of a number of rows since the early 90s, after an incident when he wrapped himself in the Union Jack at a concert in Finsbury Park. It sparked a 20-year feud between the singer and music magazine the NME, which accused him of “flirting with disaster” for draping himself with the flag. “It has really got nothing to do with racism,” Morrissey said later. “It is to do with me.”
Since then the singer has been accused of racism – always vehemently denied – a number of times, including for telling Q Magazine in 1992 that he didn’t “really think, for instance, black people and white people will ever really get on or like each other”.
In 2007, his feud with the NME reached a head when it accused him of anti-immigration comments. In 2008, the singer donated £28,000 to anti-racism charity Love Music Hate Racism. In 2012, he gained an apology from the publication after he issued libel proceedings over the article. In a statement the singer said: “I abhor racism and oppression or cruelty of any kind and will not let this pass without being absolutely clear and emphatic … Racism is beyond common sense and has no place in our society.”
However, in 2010 he blundered into another row when, in an interview with Simon Armitage for the Guardian, he described Chinese people as “a subspecies” because of their treatment of animals. The vegetarian and animal rights activist told Armitage: “Did you see the thing on the news about their treatment of animals and animal welfare? Absolutely horrific. You can’t help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies.” He did not apologise in a subsequent statement, saying: “There are no animal protection laws in China and this results in the worst animal abuse and cruelty on the planet. It is indefensible.”
The singer’s vehement opposition to the meat industry has resulted in other allegations of racism and anti-semitism, such as after his recent comments to music blog True To You: “Approve of the meat industry and you approve of Auschwitz. There is no difference.”
