The Smiths frontman believed that his opinions were worded in such a way that he would come across as racist.
The NME statement read: 'We wish to make clear that we do not believe that he is a racist; we didn’t think we were saying he was and we apologise to Morrissey if he or anyone else misunderstood our piece in that way.
'We never set out to upset Morrissey and we hope we can both get back to doing what we do best.'
The singer had previously brought a libel case against the magazine, which was given the go ahead by the High Court.
Publisher IPC Media had asked that the High Court case be struck out, claiming it is 'not a genuine bid for vindication'.
Lawyer Catrin Evans also said the singer's success since the interview suggests 'his reputation has been unaffected'. However, the High Court judge allowed the singer to bring a full case.
The How Soon Is Now singer said at the time he was 'delighted' with the decision, adding: 'I will be able to use the very public forum of the High Court in London to clear my name, loud and clear for all to hear.'The NME have had Morrissey in their cross-hairs for several decades now. The straw that broke the camel’s back for the former Smiths frontman is a 2007 interview he did with Tim Jonze for the magazine which he claims was heavily altered to accentuate and fabricate remarks he said that could be construed as racist, namely his complaints regarding “If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won’t hear an English accent,” how the English identity has been “thrown away.”Moz has claimed that this article has been a monkey on his back ever since, and is now in the process of taking the magazine to court. Whether he feels his inability to secure a record deal because of it is certainly a matter of debate but I personally don’t too much stock in that.
Today, the NME has released a statement in regards to the matter, which seems as if they’re trying to extinguish the situation before they have to deal with the annoyance of a legal battle which is still set for July.Singer MORRISSEY has received an official apology from NME editors after he complained about an article printed in the music magazine which allegedly portrayed him as a racist.
The former The Smiths star is suing the publication, alleging quotes he gave in a 2007 interview were "altered" to make him sound prejudiced.
Now bosses have moved to make amends, despite the rocker previously rejecting the offer of an apology on the NME website.
A statement released via NME.com on Tuesday (12Jun12) reads, "In December 2007, we published an article entitled 'Morrissey: Big mouth strikes again'.
"Following this, Morrissey began proceedings for libel against us. His complaint is that we accused him of being a racist off the back of an interview which he gave to the magazine. He believes the article was edited in such a way that made him seem reactionary."We wish to make clear that we do not believe that he is a racist; we didn't think we were saying he was and we apologise to Morrissey if he or anyone else misunderstood our piece in that way. We never set out to upset Morrissey and we hope we can both get back to doing what we do best."
In May (12), a representative for the Suedehead hitmaker claimed the offer of an apology was turned down as it was "disproportionate to the damage done to Morrissey by the NME magazine itself".Court ruled last year that Morrissey could continue with his libel action over the article after NME sought to strike out his claim on grounds of a lengthy delay.
The singer was claiming damages over an item headlined "Morrissey: Big mouth strikes again", which included a quote from him saying: "The gates of England are flooded. The country's been thrown away."He said it meant that, despite his protestations to the contrary, he was a racist who insisted on espousing shockingly extremist right-wing views.
An NME spokesman said the case has now been settled with the publication of the statement in this week's magazine.
The statement says: "In December 2007, we published an article entitled 'Morrissey: Big mouth strikes again'. Following this, Morrissey began proceedings for libel against us. His complaint is that we accused him of being a racist off the back of an interview which he gave to the magazine.
"He believes the article was edited in such a way that made him seem reactionary. We wish to make clear that we do not believe that he is a racist; we didn't think we were saying he was and we apologise to Morrissey if he or anyone else misunderstood our piece in that way."
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