Morrissey and his management team have slammed the creators of The Simpsons as "hurtful and racist" and "ignorant" following the release of a new episode.
'Panic on the Streets of Springfield', which was shown for the first time in the United States on Sunday (April 18), depicts a parody of the Mancunian musician called 'Quilloughby', a cynical British 80s singer who is a figment of Lisa's imagination.
In a clear nod to The Smiths, the character, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, is the lead singer of fictional band The Snuffs, whose hits include 'Hamburger is Homicide' and 'Everyone Is Horrid Except Me and Possibly You'.
In the episode, Quilloughby is portrayed on stage as an overweight meat-eater with anti-immigration views, which has angered Morrissey, a vegan, and his team.
Morrissey's manager Peter Katsis was first to call out the writers of the new episode on a "hateful" depiction of the singer in a post on the official Morrissey Facebook page.
He wrote: "Poking fun at subjects is one thing. Other shows like SNL still do a great job at finding ways to inspire great satire.
"But when a show stoops so low to use harshly hateful tactics like showing the Morrissey character with his belly hanging out of his shirt (when he has never looked like that at any point in his career) makes you wonder who the real hurtful, racist group is here.
"Even worse - calling the Morrissey character out for being a racist, without pointing out any specific instances, offers nothing. It only serves to insult the artist.
"They should take that mirror and hold it up to themselves."
Morrisey "has never stopped performing great shows, and is still a serious vegan and strong supporter for animal rights", he added.
He accused the show's creators of having "stopped creating" and "instead turned unapologetically hurtful and racist".
The manager also made reference to voice actor Hank Azaria's recent apology over his depiction of Apu the Indian shopkeeper in the show.
The Morrissey Facebook page had previously posted a promotional poster for the episode, featuring Lisa and Quilloughby, with the caption: "THE SIMPSONS CELEBRATE THE SNUFFS".
Writing on the Morrissey Central website, the singer told his fans that the episode had "enraged many people" and was a "taunting lawsuit".
"The hatred shown towards me from the creators of The Simpsons is obviously a taunting lawsuit, but one that requires more funding than I could possibly muster in order to make a challenge," Morrissey wrote in a post on Monday, April 19.
In the lengthy statement, he went on to discuss his general treatment in media and how he had been written about in the past, claiming: "I've had enough horror thrown at me that would kill off a herd of bison".
He wrote: "Accusations usually come from someone with a crazed desire for importance; they don't operate at a very high level. Writing for The Simpsons, for example, evidently requires only complete ignorance.
"But all of these things are too easy for me to say. In a world obsessed with Hate Laws, there are none that protect me."
Tim Long, who wrote the episode, told Variety.com that although Quilloughby was an original character, he was "definitely Morrissey-esque, with maybe a small dash of Robert Smith from the Cure, Ian Curtis from Joy Division, and a bunch of other people".
The Smiths' fan said he first saw the band in 1986 on the Queen Is Dead tour, and most recently caught Morrissey at the Hollywood Bowl in 2018.
In a separate post on Facebook, Mr Katsis took a swipe at actor Benedict Cumberbatch, asking why he decided to play the character, and whether he could be "that hard up for cash that he would agree to bad rap another artist that harshly".
'Panic on the Streets of Springfield' is the 19th episode of series 32 of The Simpsons, and is expected to be released in the UK on Sky One next month.
The episode was dedicated to the memory of Edwin E. Aguilar, an animator and assistant director for the show who died earlier this month.
