A war of words broke out between Morrissey and US talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel this week after the Mancunian cancelled his appearance on the popular chat show.
The Smiths frontman was set to appear on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ on Tuesday night to promote his re-scheduled tour but pulled out last minute, citing the appearance of ‘animal serial killers’.
He was referring to the cast of US reality show Duck Dynasty, a documentary about a family of duck hunters which clearly angered Morrissey, an outspoken vegetarian and animal rights activist.
He said in a statement: “As far as my reputation is concerned, I can’t take the risk of being on a show alongside people who, in effect, amount to animal serial killers.
“If Jimmy cannot dump Duck Dynasty then we must step away.”
This launched a back-and-forth verbal tirade between the two; with Kimmel mocking Morrissey on his show in a sketch and saying the 53-year-old ‘keeps finding new ways to depress us.’
Kimmel said he respected Morrissey’s stance but joked that he chose against dumping the Duck Dynasty cast simply because ‘they have guns’.
Morrissey didn’t take kindly to this, releasing yet another statement blasting Kimmel for his portrayal of gun ownership and depression in particular.
The statement read: “I was disappointed with last night’s Jimmy Kimmel Show wherein our smiling host managed to ridicule depression (70% of Americans have experienced depression according to the National Institute of Mental Health).
“He then found time to ridicule healthy eating (the obesity epidemic in the U.S. costs $147 billion per year in medical expenditure), and he also ridiculed the notion that animals should be entitled to the possession of their own lives.
“Furthermore, he found time to jokingly promote gun-ownership –hugely amusing for the parents at Sandy Hook, no doubt. He also promoted his special guests Duck Dynasty – who kill beings for fun.
“None of the above issues are, of course, as important as Jimmy Kimmel himself, who has finally revealed his show to have an overwhelming loss of meaning.
“Tune in and relive the intellectual fog of the 1950s.”
Morrissey’s statement did not sit well with Kimmel who once again took to his nightly prime-time show to outline his position and set the record straight.
“I’ve found myself in a weird position. I’m in the middle of a celebrity feud with Morrissey,” he said. “This has nothing to do with people who eat meat versus people who don’t.
“I’m completely respectful of people who do not eat meat, but the statement he made is ridiculous.”
And Kimmel showed there is clearly no love lost between the pair by following this up with a tweet and a picture of Morrissey’s ‘You Are The Quarry’ album cover.
The tweet read: “Note to Morrissey – if you have more dumb statements to make, I invite you to make them where I do, on my show.”
Picture courtesy of Caligvla, via wikiCommons. With thanks.
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