The former Smiths frontman prompted a huge backlash after he was quoted apparently defending Kevin Spacey, claiming the House of Cards star had been "attacked unnecessarily" after being accused of sexual assault.
The interview quoted Morrissey calling the claims "ridiculous"; he argued that definitions of harassment and assault had become too broad.
"As far as I know, he [Spacey] was in a bedroom with a 14-year-old. Kevin Spacey was 26, boy 14. One wonders where the boy's parents were," he said.
"One wonders if the boy did not know what would happen. I do not know about you, but in my youth I have never been in situations like this. Never. I was always aware of what could happen. When you are in someone's bedroom, you have to be aware of where that can lead to. That's why it doesn't sound very credible to me. It seems to me that Spacey has been attacked unecessarily."
Morrissey's most controversial quotes
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In the statement ironically titled 'The Slander System', Morrissey railed against the print media and refuted the comments, claiming he was misquoted by the newspaper.
"A few weeks ago I foolishly allowed Germany's Der Spiegel into my life," he said. "Since they eagerly flew from beloved Berlin to beloved Los Angeles in order to talk and laugh, I assumed a common understanding."
He continued: "Would I support Kevin Spacey's private proclivities? No, never. Would I ever support abuse of children? No, never. Would I support sexual harassment? No, never. Would I support rape? No, never. Would Der Spiegel convey my views fairly? No, never. Would I ever again speak to print media? No, never.
"In the world of music, as with politics, if you show any signs of being able to make a difference to make a difference, you will be blocked, and you will have your arms tugged out from their sockets. In the same world of music, if you have nothing to say, if your brain is a mental frost and if your pointless songs are the eyes of a dead fish, then your number 1 position awaits unasked, and the call of 2018 is the time to be new and different. But you must forget the print media who are infatuated with their own reflection and do not want yours."
He claimed he was denied "unchopped, un-fiddled with audio" of his interview and said: "Let that alone be your answer."
Morrissey's latest solo album Low In High School was recently released to mixed reviews. The Independent's critic Andy Gill gave it two stars and said Morrissey "demands our most fulsome sympathies for his own routine emotional yearnings, he himself eagerly tramples over others' sensitivities in his contemptuous dismissals of their more significant, and lasting, traumas".
