Morrissey claims he said yes to a Smiths reunion offer from AEG but Johnny Marr “ignored” it

With the Oasis reunion on, some people have been wondering what other bands might reunite. A perennial “will they ever?” is The Smiths, and someone on Sunday posted to X/Twitter, “If Oasis can do it The Smiths can too (I’m delusional).” Johnny Marr replied with a picture of Nigel Farage, the member of Parliament who was a key player in the Brexit campaign. While Marr didn’t elaborate, back in 2019 he responded to Smiths reunion rumors with “Nigel Farage on guitar.” Morrissey was in favor of Brexit, and supported the far right For Britain party.

Morrissey has now jumped in, posting on his website Morrissey Central that a reunion offer was presented to him and Marr: “In June 2024 AEG Entertainment Group made a lucrative offer to both Morrissey and Marr to tour worldwide as ‘The Smiths’ throughout 2025. Morrissey said Yes to the offer; Marr ignored the offer.”

Morrissey then got in another dig at Johnny: “Morrissey undertakes a largely sold out tour of the USA in November. Marr continues to tour as a special guest to New Order.”

Johnny did just open for New Order in Manchester on August 24, but he hasn’t toured with them. Also, Marr would probably be the first to say it isn’t The Smiths without bassist Andy Rourke, who died last year.

The subject of Smiths and Oasis reunions came up on the latest episode of podcast How Long Gone where Marr was the guest. The interview was taped on Monday, the day before the official Oasis announcement, but Marr talked about working with Noel Gallagher (Marr gave Noel one of his guitars early in Oasis’ career), and said he doesn’t really get asked about getting The Smiths back together much anymore. “I used to be asked about Smiths reunions all the time, and now I just don’t,” Marr said. “I think it’s become a little, even people who didn’t know it was gauche, now know it’s gauche.” You can listen to the whole interview below. He was also on Questlove’s podcast this week and you can listen to that below as well.

You can catch Johnny Marr on tour with James this fall, including a NYC show at Brooklyn Paramount on October 8. He’s also giving his 2003 album Boomslang a new reissue in September.

Morrissey, meanwhile, will be on tour this fall and plays Newark’s NJPAC on November 13.