After Morrissey's initial rant over the weekend regarding the Canadian seal hunt, Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea hit back yesterday, describing Morrissey as "brainwashed by decades of propaganda from fringe animal rights groups and radical environmentalists."
Shea's spokesperson Sophie Doucet piped in, dismissing Morrissey as "a millionaire celebrity, desperate for a hobby."
Well, Morrissey has now responded to the response with another post on the True To You site by comparing Shea to a "disreputable thug." The statement, dubbed "Canada: right of reply," started with Morrissey believing there was "something more than slightly desperate" in Shea referring to Morrissey's comments in his original April 19 statement.
The ex-Smiths singer added Doucet was "showing symptoms of the same Shea disorder" before responding to her closing comment on how Morrissey's "ignorant and inflammatory statements" affected "the livelihoods of thousands of hard-working men and women in rural communities."
"I should remind Sophie Doucet that building and maintaining the Concentration Camps of Auschwitz also provided livelihoods, but this hardly makes the Camps warranted," he wrote. "Let it also be added that the vast financial benefits of the seal slaughter are not directly intended intended for those hard-working men and women in rural communities, who, in fact, are merely used by the Fisheries Minister to do the messy task of searing flesh."
UPDATE: Doucet responded to Morrissey's latest statement, telling Canada.com: “Mr. Morrissey’s disrespect for all those who have been affected by the Holocaust won’t change our position."
Article continues after slideshow
#Sealfies Promoting The Seal Hunt
Morrissey also responded to Doucet's barb that Morrissey's cause was "just another case of a millionaire celebrity, desperate for a hobby."
"I can assure Sophie Doucet that I know more about the seal hunt than I wish to know, and only by suppression of humanity could anyone look away and not care," he wrote. "Also, whether a challenge comes from a millionaire or someone who is homeless is a remark that would only be made by someone of imperious ignorance, who cannot develop the moral debate, and whose own personal financial agenda comes before the lives of thousands of healthy beings."
Finally, Morrissey pointed his remarks at Shea directly, stating Shea is "so constantly absorbed by challenges and counterchallenges" one must wonder why she hasn't realized "she might be doing something wrong." The singer said the answer was "the impossibly constricted mania for financial profit — at any price."
"In Western culture, there is no acceptance of the Canadian seal slaughter, and simply because someone bears the badge of Minister does not insulate them from being a disreputable thug," Morrissey wrote. "Murder is not debatable, and the people of Canada must speak up and stop this carnage in order to restore the global image of their country. As ever and as always, it is always up to the people to put things right."
Neither Shea nor Doucet have replied as yet to Morrissey's latest remarks, which echoed his original anti-seal hunt statements in 2006 when he also employed a Holocaust comparison.
"The Canadian Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) also states that the slaughter is necessary because it provides jobs for local communities, but this is an ignorant reason for allowing such barbaric and cruel slaughter of beings that are denied life simply because somebody somewhere might want to wear their skin.
"Construction of German gas chambers also provided work for someone - this is not a moral or sound reason for allowing suffering."
Morrissey hasn't performed in Canada in nearly 10 years, last playing in Toronto in October, 2004 in support of his "You Are The Quarry" album.
Also on HuffPost
