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Morrissey postpones South American dates, citing food poising; donates copyright settlement to PETA

Morrissey's 14-date South American tour, slated to begin yesterday in Lima, Peru was partially postponed just hours before the first show, after the singer and some of his crew suffered from “severe food poisoning.”

The former Smiths frontman has allegedly returned to England, where he will rest and recover. No official press release has yet come from Morrissey's camp, but Spanish language media reports indicate that the canceled dates will be rescheduled, with new dates set to be announced in the near future, and refund information coming Friday.

Without an official statement from the singer, some confusion has arisen as to the status of the tour's remaining dates, but the latest announcements from promoters would indicate that performances in Brazil and Argentina are still expected to move forward as planned, while all 10 Peru and Chile dates will be postponed. These are the shows still expected to occur, as of press time:

July 28 – Tecnopolis – Buenos Aires, Argentina
July 30 – Credicard Hall – Sao Paulo, Brazil
Aug. 2 – Espaco Iguatemi – Brasilia, Brazil
Aug. 4 – CitiBank Hall – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This is far from the first instance of health-related issues complicating Moz's touring plans in recent months. The singer initially postponed several months of dates last Oct., in order to return to England to spend time with his ailing mother. Morrissey resumed touring in January, only to face multiple postponements and, ultimately, the cancelation of his remaining North American tour dates following a series of medical issues, including a bleeding ulcer, Barrett's esophagus, and double pneumonia. The singer recently revealed, in an interview with Chilean newspaper La Tercera, that his medical condition was, at one point, so severe that he nearly faced death.

As we reported several weeks ago, the Pope of Mope did manage to record a unique performance at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, in between bouts of illness, and will release a concert film titled Morrissey: 25 Live in theaters and on DVD later this year, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his career as a solo artist.

In non-medical Morrissey news, the singer was also just awarded $14,800 in a copyright dispute with Britain's Channel 4, over their use of the classic Smiths tune “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” (see video above) to promote a 2011 cooking special, featuring chef Gordon Ramsay, without permission.

Moz, who is a vegetarian and outspoken animal rights activist, going so far as to ban venues from serving meat at his shows, donated his winnings to PETA, specifically to fight the use of foie gras. According the The Guardian, the singer had this to say about his victory:

“Ramsay may very well stick his head in his microwave when he hears that the money I received from Channel 4 because one of my songs used to promote his Christmas show is being donated to Peta to fight foie gras. Foie gras is so cruelly produced that he'd be against it if he had an ethical bone in his body.”

Though no plans to return to North America have been announced, the singer did express an intention to eventually make up for canceled dates last spring. We wish Morrissey a speedy recovery – again – and will keep you updated on further developments.