Thursday, February 28, 2013

Kimmel Vs. Morrissey

The Kimmel, Morrissey stand-off continues

The stand-off between Morrissey and Jimmy Kimmel is still on a roll, as both the late night host and the musician have gotten into a war of words over Morrissey's critical position on "Duck Dynasty."

If you'll recall, the former Smiths frontman pulled out of an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Tuesday because the cast members from "Duck Dynasty" were going to be on as guests.

"As far as my reputation is concerned, I can't take the risk of being on a show alongside people who, in effect, amount to animal serial killers," Morrissey said in a statement earlier this week. "If Jimmy cannot dump 'Duck Dynasty' then we must step away."

Kimmel ended up hosting "Duck Dynasty" as planned, joking on Tuesday's show that while he "respects [Morrissey's] stance, there's a very good reason why I didn't dump the 'Duck Dynasty' guys for Morrissey. And that's because they have guns."

The singer, Kimmel continued, "keeps finding new ways to depress us."


Morrissey didn't find that so funny, and on Wednesday gave a statement that counted the reasons why.

"I was disappointed with last night’s 'Jimmy Kimmel Show,' wherein our smiling host managed to ridicule depression (70 percent of Americans have experienced depression according to the National Institute of Mental Health)," Morrissey said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Speaking of Kimmel, the singer went on to say that the host "found time to ridicule healthy eating (the obesity epidemic in the U.S. costs $147 billion per year in medical expenditure), and he also ridiculed the notion that animals should be entitled to the possession of their own lives. Furthermore, he found time to jokingly promote gun-ownership – hugely amusing for the parents at Sandy Hook, no doubt. ... None of the above issues are, of course, as important as Jimmy Kimmel himself, who has finally revealed his show to have an overwhelming loss of meaning."

Kimmel swiftly responded Wednesday afternoon on his Twitter account:

 And later on that night, on his show.

"I'll be honest, it made me very angry," Kimmel said of Morrissey's statement. "I have a lot of respect for people who don't eat meat ... but the statement he made is ridiculous. I'd like to invite him to join me on the show to discuss it. I am an open, even-handed person, who considers and respects all points of view."

"I figure if I say it enough," Kimmel joked, "maybe it'll be true."

We'll see if Morrissey makes it back to Kimmel to hash out their differences. According to his Facebook page, the singer's back on his North American tour, which was scheduled to pick up in San Diego Wednesday night.

[SOURCE]