Johnny Marr Reveals Real Reason He Turned Down 'Eye-Watering' Offer To Reunite With Morrissey

Music legend Johnny Marr has said there was a very simple reason he wasn’t interested in getting The Smiths back together.

In September 2024, former Smiths frontman Morrissey claimed that he and his former bandmate had been made a “lucrative offer” months earlier to reunite.

While he claimed that he’d been in favour of a reunion, he wrote that Marr had simply “ignored the offer”, though the man himself later insisted: “I didn’t ignore the offer – I said no.”

During an interview on the podcast Stick To Football, the guitar hero confirmed: “We [had] an offer [to reunite] recently, but I said no.”

He went on to say the decision was “a little bit about principles”, adding: “But I’m not an idiot, I just think the vibe’s not right. Bad vibe.”

“It was an eye-watering amount of money,” Marr noted, but pointed out: “I really like what I’m doing now which makes it a lot easier. I really like where I’m at. I still work, I craft, I still want to write the best song I’ve ever written. I want to be a better performer.”

In an attempted dig at his former bandmate last year, Morrissey wrote on his official website when Marr’s dismissal of a Smiths reunion was made public: “Morrissey said Yes to the offer; Marr ignored the offer.

“Morrissey undertakes a largely sold out tour of the USA in November. Marr continues to tour as a special guest to New Order.”

Morrissey has come under fire on numerous occasions in the last few years for his commentary on politics both in the UK and abroad, as well as his apparent endorsement of far-right groups and parties.

Around the time that Morrissey first alleged that Marr had thrown the brakes on a Smiths reunion, the guitarist responded to one X user’s calls for the group to get back together with a simple photo of a grinning Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform party, of whom the Everyday Is Like Sunday singer has previously spoken favourably.