Morrissey has been making headlines over the past few months for leaning into his long-held right-wing ideology. He publicly endorsed the far-right anti-Muslim group For Britain on multiple occasions, wearing a pin with the organization’s logo on The Tonight Show and defending it with statements like, “Everyone ultimately prefers their own race.”

This has divided the Smiths frontman’s fanbase and supporters. Paul Banks defended Interpol’s decision to tour with Moz this fall. In a recent interview, veteran singer-songwriter and leftist activist Billy Bragg said he has “no respect for [Morrissey],” but has “a lot of sympathy and respect for his audience.” The Killers’ Brandon Flowers, however, thinks he’s “still a king.”

Today, Bragg shared a long statement on Facebook condemning both Morrissey and Flowers. “I have to wonder if Flowers really understands the ramifications of Morrissey’s expressions of support for the far right For Britain Party,” he writes. “As the writer of the powerful Killers song ‘Land of the Free’, does he know that For Britain wants to build the kind of barriers to immigration that Flowers condemns in that lyric?”

“Party leader Anne Marie Walters maintains ties with Generation Identity, the group who both inspired and received funds from the gunman who murdered 50 worshippers at a Christchurch mosque. How does that sit with the condemnation of mass murder by lone gunman in ‘Land of the Free’?”

Bragg points out that Morrissey shared a white supremacist video on his website last Sunday, lifting footage from Stormzy’s Glastonbury performance “while arguing that the British establishment are using him to promote multiculturalism at the expense of white culture.” The YouTube channel of the video’s author also contains “clips expounding the Great Replacement Theory, a far right conspiracy trope which holds that there is a plot of obliterate the white populations of Europe and North America through mass immigration and cultural warfare.”

“A week has passed since the video appeared on Morrissey’s website and nothing has been written in the media to challenge his position,” Bragg writes. “Today it was reported that research by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a UK based anti-extremist organisation, reveals that the Great Replacement Theory is being promoted so effectively by the far right that it is entering mainstream political discourse.”

“He expresses support for anti-Muslim provocateurs, posts white supremacist videos and, when challenged, clutches his pearls and cries ‘Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me’. His recent claim that ‘as a so-called entertainer, I have no rights’ is a ridiculous position made all the more troubling by the fact that it is a common trope among right-wing reactionaries.”

“Worryingly, Morrissey’s reaction to being challenged over his support of For Britain, his willingness to double down rather than apologise for any offence caused, suggests a commitment to a bigotry that tarnishes his persona as the champion of the outsider. Where once he offered solace to the victims of a cruel and unjust world, he now seems to have joined the bullies waiting outside the school gates.”

“As an activist, I’m appalled by this transformation, but as a Smiths fan, I’m heartbroken,” Bragg writes. Read his full statement below.