The Slow, Hateful Pickling of a Poet

“The gradual decline of Morrissey became most noticeable in the early 2010s. The musician had always been outspoken on a range of topics related to animal welfare -- he is, of course, the famous vegan behind Meat is Murder. But as the years went on, his defence of animal rights came to take on an insidiously nationalist character. "Did you see the thing on the news about [China’s] treatment of animals and animal welfare?" Morrissey said back in 2010. "Absolutely horrific. You can’t help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies."

By 2018, Morrissey's vicious public statements took up a large part of his public life. On a website he treated like a right-wing conspiracy blog, the singer railed against immigration. "London is debased," he wrote. A frequent target of his attacks was London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who he saw as responsible for making his country less like his country, and for encouraging the "rapes and terror attacks which have resulted from mass immigration." Khan couldn't "speak properly", Morrissey wrote.

Around that time, Morrissey began to align himself with political parties that shared his reprehensible views. In 2019, while appearing on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Morrissey tacked a "For Britain" pin to his lapel. That political party, led by Anne Marie Waters, espouses the widely debunked "great replacement theory", and argues "non-European peoples" are taking over once traditionally "white" countries like the United Kingdom.

As time went on, Morrissey's defences of his political positions also grew increasingly muddled. "As far as racism goes, the modern Loony Left seem to forget that Hitler was Left wing,” the singer wrote on his website in a confused, extremely long rant. “But of course, we are all called racist now, and the word is actually meaningless."

The transformation was complete. Morrissey had become indistinguishable from a host of right-wing theorists online, all of them bemoaning "cancel culture" and a new shift towards diversity. One of the most extraordinary singers on the planet had become a deeply ordinary and toxic man.

Most egregious was the release of 'The National Front Disco'. Following a young man's slow radicalisation, the song contains the lyric "England for the English" and is pointedly neutral on whether or not the adoption of racist views is something to be decried. "You're going to the National Front disco," Morrissey sings over swirling guitars. "Because you want the day to come sooner, when you've settled the score."