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Morrissey: Norway killings are 'nothing' compared to fast-food meat

The vegetarian singer made the comments at a concert in Warsaw over the weekend.

Jul 28th 2011, 11:29 AM 2,614 Views 33 Comments

Morrissey on stage at Glastonbury last month

Image: Mark Allan/AP/Press Association Images

OUTSPOKEN MUSICIAN Morrissey has claimed that the massacre in Norway is “nothing” compared to the production of meat for fast-food restaurants.

The former Smiths frontman and long-time vegetarian was performing in Warsaw, Poland on Sunday night when he made the comments, according to the Daily Mirror. Introducing the Smiths’ animal-rights hit Meat is Murder, he told the crowd: “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 Shit every day.

The death toll of the double attacks in Oslo and Utøya last week has since been reduced to 76. The Mirror reports that some fans were outraged by the comments, with one posting on a forum: “The killing of children compared to KFC & McDonald’s?!!! What an asshole!”

It’s not the first time that Morrissey, 52, has courted controversy. He has previously branded Chinese people “a sub-species” over their treatment of animals.

Originally released in 1985, Meat is Murder is a passionate diatribe against meat-eating with lyrics including: “The calf that you carve with a smile is murder / And the turkey you festively slice is murder”.

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Michael Freeman

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Morrissey: Norway killings are 'nothing' compared to fast-food meat