Singer Morrissey has refused to retract his comments that the shootings in Norway were the moral equivalent of the slaughter of animals for fast food outlets.
The vegetarian singer, who plays the first of two sellout shows at Vicar Street tonight, rejected criticism of the remarks, which he made on stage in Warsaw last Sunday.
Before singing the song Meat is Murder at a concert in Warsaw last weekend, Morrisey said: "We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, with 97 dead. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried sh*t (sic) every day."
The remarks provoked an online backlash even from the singer’s committed fans.
Instead of rowing back, Morrissey issued a statement this afternoon in which he purported to explain the remarks he made in Warsaw.
He said millions of animals were being “routinely murdered every single day" to fund the profits of fast food companies.
“But because these murders are protected by laws, we are asked to feel indifferent about the killings, and to not even dare question them," he said. "If you quite rightly feel horrified at the Norway killings, then it surely naturally follows that you feel horror at the murder of any innocent being. You cannot ignore animal suffering simply because animals ‘are not us’.”
