Morrissey has publicly denounced his own Supreme ad in the Morrissey online fanzine True To You: "I apologize enormously for the enfeebled photograph of me issued this week by Supreme. The shot was taken in October 2015. I considered the photograph to be fit only for a medical encyclopedia and I pleaded with Supreme not to use it."
Supreme responded with a statement clarifying their association with the singer and the current situation: "Supreme repeatedly offered Morrissey three very reasonable options as a remedy to the impasse: 1) To do an entire re-shoot at Supreme’s sole expense, 2) To select one of the many options from the shoot with Terry Richardson [that were offered to Morrissey, 3) To return the money that was paid to Morrissey by Supreme. Morrissey repeatedly ignored all three options with no reason given as to why."
The singer claims to have been upset with his modelling for the brand due to White Castle’s (a burger chain) "sponsorship" of t-shirts in the brands 2015 release. The reaction is typical seeing as banning meat vendors at his gigs and saying that eating meat is as bad as paedophilia are regular Morrissey things to do. White Castle, however, did not pay Supreme to put their logo on their clothes, Supreme just put it on there for that I-work-here-in-the-summer aesthetic, like people who buy Supreme clothes have summer jobs.
Morrissey is just the latest in this line of old white artists to appear on the brand’s shirts
Supreme having gotten Neil Young and Lou Reed in the past to appear on their clothes, Morrissey is just the latest in this line of old white artists to appear on the brand’s shirts.
The conflict comes from his internal sensationalism and his delusion that he is still in his artistic prime. This, going with the way that he seems to not know how contracts or money works. A general lack of understanding that goes with wholesale decline. Not knowing that Supreme can’t just: "track it down and reclaim [their money]" like Morrissey says in a recent follow-up statement. Also not knowing that he can’t get a lawyer to stop them from doing something that he signed a piece of paper saying that he agreed to. Morrissey, you can’t just ask a grown-up to stop the distribution of something you don’t like: you’ve got to respect your legal obligations like a big boy.
It’s the kind of position that you get yourself into when you decline so much, but your image of yourself doesn’t change, that you become a parody of yourself. I doubt the typical Supreme consumer has the faux-indie aspirations to even know who you are. You must just relax back into your sunset years and feel all of your cultural significance slowly fade away.
It’s a good photograph of the singer, Terry Richardson is a good photographer. I don’t understand why Morrissey has to act this way.
Luke Acton
