Morrissey accepts racism apology

Music magazine The Word was today forced to apologise to former Smiths frontman Morrissey in the high court over an album review that he claimed depicted him as a racist and a hypocrite.

After the Word apologised in open court, Morrissey vowed to continue his libel battle with the NME, which erupted last December when the singer's comments on immigration were splashed on the front cover.

The Word piece, which was written by David Quantick and appeared in the March 2008 edition of the music monthly, was a damning review of the singer's latest greatest hits album that said Morrissey, as a child of immigrant parents, "should know better than to attack immigration".

It concluded: "For his waving of the flag (for publicity too, it would seem), for his ingrained habit of paying lip service to anti-racism while talking like an old Tory immigration spokesman, and for his abandonment of everything that made The Smiths a band for outsiders, Morrissey should be ashamed of himself."

In a statement the singer said: "I am obviously delighted with this victory and the clearing of my name in public, where it is loud and clear for all to hear.

"The NME have calculatedly tried to damage my integrity and to label me as a racist in order to boost their diminishing circulation.

"Word magazine made the mistake of repeating those allegations, which they now accept are false and, as a result, have apologised in open court.

"I will now continue to pursue my legal action against the NME and its editor until they do the same."