Morrissey urges Sánchez to end bullfighting on his return to Spain
Poinews.com – Few figures in the performing arts have woven animal-rights activism as tightly into their career as Morrissey. Even before stepping on stage, the former Smiths frontman is already making waves in Spain. Just days before performing in Barcelona and Madrid, the British musician has sent a letter to the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, urging him to help bring bullfighting to an end. This timely intervention highlights how Morrissey urges Sánchez to end bullfighting as part of his broader commitment to animal welfare.
The singer, a vegetarian since his adolescence and one of the most combative voices in defence of animals for decades, asks the head of the Spanish government to use his “influence” to put an end to a tradition which, in his view, “still tarnishes” Spain’s international image. As he writes in the letter: “Please, do something the whole world will love: end this barbarity.” The letter, released with the support of the animal-rights organisation PETA, comes at a time when bullfighting has returned to the centre of the political debate.
A Growing Political Movement
On 15 July, a group of 52 MPs once again registered in the Congress of Deputies the citizens’ initiative “Not My Culture”, which calls for bullfights to be stripped of their status as protected cultural heritage. The proposal had already won the backing of more than 715,000 signatures. PETA supports the campaign with an international petition addressed directly to Sánchez. This political momentum reinforces why Morrissey urges Sánchez to end bullfighting at this particular moment in Spanish history.
The organisation says that each year thousands of bulls suffer “a slow and painful death” in Spanish bullrings and argues that public opposition to these shows continues to grow both inside and outside the country. This cause, however, is not just a one-off reaction to his Spanish tour. It is part of Morrissey’s artistic DNA.
A Lifelong Commitment to Animal Rights
In 2014 he released “The Bullfighter Dies”, one of the most talked-about songs on his album “World Peace Is None of Your Business”. In it he uses irony to portray the bullfighter and repeats a refrain that went on to become a statement of intent: “The bullfighter dies and nobody cries” (in Spanish, ‘El torero muere y nadie le llora’). Over the years, the musician has used interviews, concerts and statements to condemn meat consumption, factory farming, animal experimentation and bullfighting.
“The bullfighter dies and nobody cries” – a refrain that became Morrissey’s battle cry against bullfighting.
He even, just as PETA itself did, went so far as to ask the late Pope Francis to issue a public condemnation of bullfighting. For his followers, that commitment is an indivisible part of his persona; for his detractors, it is yet another example of his tendency to turn any public appearance into a controversy. And he rarely goes unnoticed when he sets foot in Spain.
Last March he cancelled the concert he was due to give in Valencia, claiming he was in a “catatonic” state after being unable to sleep because of the noise in the city, which was immersed in preparations for the Fallas festival. The explanation fuelled a reputation that has followed him for years: that of an artist as brilliant as he is unreliable. It was not an isolated episode.
In 2025 he also called off at the last minute his performance at Las Noches del Botánico in Madrid for medical reasons. According to specialist website Muzikalia, Morrissey has already clocked up more than 350 cancelled concerts over the course of his career. Now, even before his Spanish tour begins, he has once again managed to get people talking about him.
And, once again, not just because of his music. As Morrissey urges Sánchez to end bullfighting, the world watches to see if this passionate plea will lead to meaningful change in Spain’s beloved but controversial tradition.
