Morrissey, a British pop icon and one-time frontman for influential 80's band The Smiths, is no stranger to controversy and has always been very open about is opposition to animal cruelty and his support of organizations such as PETA.  Recently, Morrissey turned down the opportunity to make significant money by performing at a festival tour in Canada but his own moral code is keeping him far away from the Great White North.

Here is the official statement from Morrissey (emphasis added):

In late June the Montreal Symphony are hosting a TV Special to salute Buffy Sainte-Marie's 50th year making music. I am honored to be asked to take part. I first bought a Buffy Sainte-Marie record when I was 12, and her music has always remained with me. In the 1960s, as a political activist, Buffy's lyrics were fearless, and I'm very grateful for all the risks that she took.

I am also pleased to be asked to join the bill at the V Festival at the Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, and also at Fort Calgary in Calgary.

However, as we all know, the psychologically and constitutionally sickening Canadian seal-kill has started and is once again in full-cry.

The horror of the Canadian seal-kill is untranslatable, and although I fully realize that highly concentrated evil exists in other countries - Japan's dolphin slaughter, Iceland's newly-revived whaling, the cat-skinning trade in Switzerland, and China with just about every injustice imaginable - there is something especially menacing about Canada's seal-kill.

Loyola Sullivan (Canada's Ambassador for Fisheries Conservation) is a man of glacial coldness who claims that the seal-kill is "humane" - a view he might alter if his own skull were cracked open with a spiked axe.

The fact that the seal-kill provides a livelihood for fishermen is an insultingly dim excuse for it to take place - after all, the German gas chambers of World War 2 also provided work for someone.

The seal-kill takes place to satisfy greed for fur-pelts, and this Canadian government is happy to drag the global image of its own country down, and make it a place that people such as I couldn't bear to visit.

So this bad news for Canadian fans of Morrissey's music, but it is good to see an artist take a stand and make a statement for something he believes in.  And if you read his statement he certainly does have a point.  Why the heck is Canada still engaging in this activity?  Do you know anyone that wears a seal pelt coat?  This isn't 1872!

What do you think?  Is Morrissey being a jerk by making his Canadian fans suffer?  Does Canada suck for killing thousands of innocent seals each year?  Hit the comments link below to share your opinion.

» True To You (Morrissey Fan Site)