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Morrissey lashes out at Warner Brothers, tells fans to boycott DVD

2:13 p.m. · August 18, 2008 · by Ethan Stanislawski

Morrissey, the former Smiths singer and perennial headache to whatever label he happens to be working with at the moment (or not), has yet again lambasted one of his corporate supporters who didn't meet his satisfaction. Warner Brothers will be releasing the Morrissey Live at the Hollywood Bowl DVD in the U.K. in October. Moz is claiming that not only was the DVD was produced without his permission, but that he will also not be receiving any royalties from its sales. He's urging his fans to boycott the DVD:

"The slapdash release of Morrissey Live At The Hollywood Bowl is done by Warner without any consultation to me whatsoever, and is in breach of their terms as laid out by themselves in an agreement made for the film between Warner and my ex-manager.

Maybe he wants fans just to pirate the DVD instead?

It's unclear how Warner Brothers got access to make the DVD without Morrissey's approval, and it would be an egregious breach of trust and probably illegal if they actually filmed a concert without Morrissey's permission to make it into a DVD. This being Morrissey, however,we're almost definitely getting a one-sided and incomplete take on the situation. It could be artistic disputes, royalty disputes or any number of things that led Warner Bros. to go ahead with the DVD before nailing down a deal with Moz himself and it's also unclear what exactly Morrissey's "approval" means here. We'll report more on this as details emerge.

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