{"id":656586,"date":"2026-06-25T00:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/656586\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T00:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T00:15:14","slug":"morrissey-attacks-johnny-marr-in-lengthy-screed-over-new-smiths-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/656586\/","title":{"rendered":"Morrissey Attacks Johnny Marr In Lengthy Screed Over New Smiths Documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2024, Morrissey complained<\/a> that he was being erased from the Smiths’ origin story, and now he’s angry about it again. In a since-deleted Morrissey Central<\/a> post titled “The Art Of Forgery,” the singer said he was not invited to take part in the process of a forthcoming BBC Smiths documentary, and that it’s critical of him while painting Johnny Marr, his longtime foe, as an “angel.” In the lengthy screed, he says that Marr “has intentionally divided the Smiths audience into Marr or Morrissey factions.”<\/p>\n

No BBC Smiths documentary has yet been announced. Along with Marr, Morrissey calls out Smiths producer Grant Showbiz, whose words were apparently “slanderous.” Read the full thing below.<\/p>\n

A BBC radio program supposedly tracking the story of the Smiths will be aired on July 13. The BBC has warned that it is critical in nature towards Morrissey. <\/p>\n

Morrissey was not invited to take part in this timeworn story – which has seen at least five identical documentaries wherein Marr grabs center stage as the unchanging face of discord \u2026 and Bigmarr Strikes Again. The souring of the Smiths dream unravels once again through Marr\u2019s mechanical paces, which are by now totally predictable plot development. The outcome is never in doubt – Marr angel; Morrissey executioner. Forty years on, Marr cannot do anything with his life but look back. The truth is always ignored. The tired lie that I left a note on Andy Rourke\u2019s car saying \u2018you are fired\u2019 lives on with sly determination. Yes, I imagine there was a note, and yes, I imagine my name was scribbled across it mischievously – by someone unknown to the BBC. But I hadn\u2019t hired Andy Rourke and I would have no place nor right to fire him. <\/p>\n

The Smiths was my voice, my lyrics, my song-titles, my album titles, my single and album artwork, my vision, my vocal melodies, my emotions – nobody else\u2019s. When The Guardian say that they love the Smiths but hate Morrissey, it is like saying \u2018we hate David Bowie but we love the Spiders From Mars\u2019. It\u2019s all so staged, isn\u2019t it? As if ANYONE could listen to the Smiths yet somehow magically find a way to negotiate AROUND Morrissey and pretend he wasn\u2019t there! When The Guardian first jumped on me in 2015 and made me the focus of their hourly malice, Marr possibly appeared in their offices the next day – sweeping the stairs and waxing the floors. This was his big chance to sway people away from the notion of the Smiths as my project. Beyond playing the music, nobody else had one single idea – but the writer Gareth Roberts took it too far when he recently said: \u201cRemove Morrissey from the Smiths and you are left with Haircut 100\u201d. <\/p>\n

Funny, but not quite true. <\/p>\n

This new BBC program already sounds like it is NOT for anyone who knows or cares about the Smiths. Marr has intentionally divided the Smiths audience into Marr or Morrissey factions; he has legally claimed the Smiths trade mark name as his – knowing full well that the name was devised by Morrissey. He has devoted his entire life to killing Morrissey in whatever way available. He embodies precisely what he claims to hate in others. His predatory sport of \u2018calling Morrissey names\u2019 is now in full wachine-machine overdrive. Why isn\u2019t he bored of it all yet? <\/p>\n

I am somehow more shocked by the words of Grant Showbiz in this BBC program. They are slanderous, and even worse-they come from someone whom I always held solidly in the highest regard – until now. Even Soviet Statues crumble. <\/p>\n

The people who continually shout the loudest are those who look for relevance. Marr, I firmly believe, is destroying the legacy of the Smiths. He plants seeds of doubt everywhere. He\u2019s done it so loudly and so often that he has trapped himself. <\/p>\n

I have relentlessly faced the slings and arrows of the most vile of the devils snares – be they Marr, or The Guardian. It is said that those who vomit out the same corrupt hatred decade after decade are half in love with their targets, hence their romantic possession. Otherwise, they\u2019d move on – disinclined to devote their adult lives to someone whom they claim is tat. Marr has turned his back on the Smiths in order to get the black wax seal from the haters. He has not ever felt the lyrics to How Soon is Now? – which is why he sings them with all of the romantic enchantment of Leslie Crowther. <\/p>\n

How fantastic life would have been if Marr had chosen four more studio albums with the Smiths instead of joining and then being thrown out of the Pretenders. <\/p>\n

Let the pie-fights continue. I shall always be reborn. The only artistic beauty in this world is whatever we bring to it. On the other hand, you have those who obliterate for pay. They have absolutely nothing else to offer. <\/p>\n

I apologise for use of my own name in the third person (illeism), but it\u2019s easier on both eyes.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Morrissey went on a tirade about a story about the Smiths that Marr told The Guardian, saying it was “deliberately untrue<\/a>.” In 2024, there was lots of back and forth<\/a> between the former bandmates regarding a Smiths reunion tour<\/a>, the Smiths trademark<\/a>, and a Smiths deluxe reissue<\/a>. It’s always something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2024, Morrissey complained that he was being erased from the Smiths’ origin story, and now he’s angry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-656586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}