(Photo: Matthew Simmons/Getty Images)

There’s nothing new about Morrissey canceling tour dates—by this point, it’s as much a part of his signature arsenal as “Suedehead,” “Everyday Is Like Sunday,” and complaining about meat—but the attendant drama rarely extends very far out of his head and into the real world. Today, though, Rolling Stone reports that Moz has canceled several tour dates in Italy, after a reportedly contentious conflict with a cop in Rome, who reportedly took out his gun during an argument with the former Smiths frontman.


This all comes from Morrissey’s newphew, photographer Sam Esty Rayner, who posted the following exchange on Facebook, alleging that an unnamed police officer accosted Morrissey for “35 minutes,” demanding to see his papers:


Rolling Stone confirmed the quotes with Morrissey’s camp, although independent video confirmation of what happened from the many witnesses Rayner mentions has yet to appear. In any case, the incident marks the end of the singer-songwriter’s current Italian tour; he’s canceled “seven proposed live dates,” saying, “Obviously, with psychopaths like this on the loose, it is not safe for me to be in Italy.”