British musician Morrissey says if given the chance, he’d kill President Donald Trump to ensure the “safety of humanity.”
The 58-year-old former Smiths frontman said in an interview with der Spiegel this week that if he were presented with a button that could instantly kill Trump, he wouldn’t hesitate to press it.
“I would [push it], for the safety of humanity,” Morrissey told the outlet. “It has nothing to do with my personal opinion of his face or his family, but in the interest of humanity I would push.”
The singer also explained that it was the media, who so derided Trump during the 2016 campaign season, that ultimately created Trump, ensured consistent coverage of his campaign, and led to his victory over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
“The American media helped Trump, yes, they first created it,” he explained, according to a translation of the interview by the Washington Times. “Whether they criticize him or laugh at him, he does not care, he just wants to see his picture and his name. The American media have shot themselves in the leg.”
Morrissey added that he “never expected” Trump to be elected president and has “no faith” in the political establishment anymore.
“He grabs after everything like a little child. He is not a leader. He is vermin,” he said.
Morrissey — who served as the frontman for The Smiths between 1982 and 1987 and later launched a successful solo career — hasn’t shied away from sharing his political opinions in the past, including on Brexit and former President Barack Obama.
In May, the musician slammed British politicians for failing to pinpoint Islamic extremism as the cause of terrorist attacks in the U.K., and has also previously taken aim at Obama, whom he called “useless” in a 2012 interview.
“I think we were all initially swept along with the Obama win, but he’s proven to be simply a set of teeth, and useless in every other regard,” he told TheJuice in 2012.
In a 2015 interview with the Daily Beast, Morrissey said Trump “can’t be allowed to represent America.”
“The world does not want to look at Donald Trump’s face for years to come,” he said then.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum