Rock legend Morrissey has cancelled the remainder of his US tour because of an illness he’s blaming on his opener, Kristeen Young.
The former Smiths front man, 55, had cancelled and postponed a number of concerts in recent weeks, and finally announced the cancellation of the rest of the tour, which is in support of the artist’s upcoming tenth solo album, “World Peace is None of Your Business,” on Facebook on Wednesday
“It is with great sadness that the remainder of the US tour has been cancelled,” the note read. “The respiratory infection Morrissey contracted in Miami has worsened, and in the interest of making a full recovery, all further touring plans have been halted.”
While the first announcement was a boilerplate cancellation notice, a second, posted to the singer’s website proclaiming his “unimaginable sorrow” at not being able to play the remaining shows, blamed his illness on the opening act, Young.
On Saturday, June 7th, following the show at Boston Opera House, Morrissey collapsed and was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital where doctors treated Morrissey for ‘acute fever’. Difficulties had arisen on May 31st following Kristeen Young’s opening set at the Miami Knight Concert Hall, after which Kristeen confessed to “a horrendous cold”, the symptoms of which were passed on to Morrissey resulting in the cancellation of the next show in Atlanta. For the good of all, Kristeen was asked to step down from the immediate upcoming shows, but instead she decided to leave the tour entirely.
Things soon took a twist with Young taking to her own Facebook page (via Pitchfork) to counter the singer’s allegations. The younger artist stated that she did not leave the tour of her own accord and claims she was kicked off the tour.
“I am very sorry that Morrissey is not feeling well.” wrote Young. “But I will not tolerate these lies….particularly about my health. This is really too much and bizarre.”
Whatever the actual reason for the cancellation, this is far from the first time Morrissey has found himself in a spat with someone else.
In the last couple years, he’s called out Paul McCartney for his support of the Queen, questioned Beyoncé’s choice of handbags, and become embroiled in a week long feud with Jimmy Kimmel after the singer was booked on the same episode as the cast of “Duck Dynasty” were set to appear on.
The last two beefs, in particular, were because of the singer’s strong commitment to vegetarianism (the Smiths released a song in 1985 called “Meat is Murder”). Earlier this year, the singer even went as far as to compare eating meat to pedophilia.