insanejane wrote:I've moved onto Roxy Music and you're still discussing Jackson Browne.
Ok. Fuck Bryan Ferry. He's a Nazi. But what's worse is that he had an endorsement deal with Marks & Spencer.
In March 2007, a number of newspapers reported that Bryan Ferry calls his West London studio his Führerbunker, a title associated with Hitler's headquarters. In an interview in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Ferry allegedly praised the Nazi regime. There was some condemnation from the Jewish community and calls for Ferry to be dropped from his contract with Marks & Spencer. Lord Janner said "Marks & Spencer should have a serious rethink about employing him. This man should stick to singing and stay away from making offensive comments of this sort. Any praise of the Nazis is not acceptable in the Jewish world."
On April 17, 2007, Ferry apologized for the offence caused by these comments, reinforcing that they "were made solely from an art history perspective" and stating that he finds "the Nazi regime, and all it stood for, evil and abhorrent". On the Swedish TV show "Stina" on April 28, 2007, Ferry denied that his studio was ever called "Führerbunker" and that his comments were never about Nazis but rather about art. He also said that he was very upset over this incident. On his personal website, Ferry made the statement
I did not describe fascism in these terms, neither ever would I, nor did I even discuss fascism in this interview-period. I have never referred to my studio as a 'fuhrer-bunker' [sic]. (...) Like all sane people, I find the politics of fascism and Nazism to be abhorrent and I deeply apologize to anyone who was unintentionally hurt by the way my comments were misrepresented in the media.
—Bryan Ferry
On May 14 it was rumoured that Ferry had been dropped by Marks and Spencer, although Marks and Spencer denied that Ferry was dropped and stated that Ferry completed his running contract, and it was normal to change model after two seasons.
On June 29, the Daily Mirror apologized for its article run on April 16 and the misquotation of Ferry it carried, stating that their claim "Mr. Ferry had been singing the praises of the Nazis [...] was not true." The apology goes on to say that the Daily Mirror "accept[s] that Mr. Ferry abhors the Nazi regime and all it stood for".