Grime artist Stormzy calls out NME for cover story about his depression: ‘You will make money from this’
Stormzy has attacked music magazine NME for using him to lead a cover about depression without his permission.
Stormzy - SHUT UP
Earlier this month the rapper shared with Channel 4 News (featured below) sensitive details about his battle with depression.
It was an interview the music mag was keen to leverage in its leader looking to discuss how the artists such as Stormzy, Lady Gaga and Bastille deal with mental health issues.
With comments from this interview, NME created a feature around depression.
Depression: its time to talk. Wise words in this week's free NME magazine. Find your nearest copy > https://t.co/hjqEMkXCcY pic.twitter.com/28OOZPRt0m
— NME (@NME) March 16, 2017
However, the rapper has taken exception to his inclusion on the front page of this week’s mag in a series of tweets:
You lot know I don't rant or open my mouth up for no reason but serious @NME magazine are the biggest bunch of sly, foul PAIGONS. — #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
I KNOW it will help others but just imagine a personal battle of yours being published on the front of a magazine without your permission — #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
And for those saying @NME done this with no bad intent, they know exactly what they're doing. They couldn't get me on the cover so done this — #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
The publication issued an apology stating that it is a free magazine and was looking to discuss the issues.
@Stormzy1 I'm really sorry this has happened. We're a free magazine and were not trying to shift copies, just talk about something important — NME (@NME) March 16, 2017
The apology was not accepted with the artist reminding his followers that as a free publication, the NME is ad supported.
DEAD. You're NOT a non-profit organisation. The more copies you dish out the more you charge for advertising. You will make money from this. https://t.co/aPMtU4gy5M — #GSAP (@Stormzy1) March 16, 2017
NME editor Mike Williams issued a statement to address the issue: "Hi Stormzy, Editor Mike here. I’m sorry that you didn’t know your image would be our cover. Our intentions were only positive. We were inspired by your words and wanted to use them as a springboard to talk about depression and how it shouldn’t be taboo.
"We spoke to CALM and YoungMinds in order to make sure the advice we were giving people was on message with how they advise and we spoke to other people with a profile to gather their stories and advice too.
"We used your image as we felt it would resonate most with our readers, and I can only apologise again that you didn’t know. Our only intention was to raise awareness of an issue that we’ve been inspired to talk about following your comments."