Singer Morrissey has urged magazine bosses to apologise and end an ongoing lawsuit to prevent a costly court battle.
The former The Smiths frontman has issued a writ against NME alleging comments he made in a 2007 interview were "altered" to make him "sound racist".
The case is due to go before the High Court in London in the new year but the rocker has now made an 11th-hour plea to bosses of the publication, urging them to apologise to him and bring the lawsuit to an end.
In a statement, he writes, "As the year dies, I return to England to prepare for the High Court circus of the NME case. Instead of simply saying 'sorry' (for re-writing the answers to my last NME interview in 2007 in order to make me sound racist), the imperious NME would rather spend hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds in a High Court duel to the death.
"The fact that they have chosen a court drama over simply apologizing (sic) reinforces the notion that their original intent all along was to invent a sensation. So, here it is... now is the NME's big chance to scorch me off the human map for good. And what a triumph that would be for them. What a proud and eternal boast."