Britain's greatest dour crooner Morrissey was in the Bay Area last weekend performing a Saturday show at the Event Center at San Jose State, and once again he departed here with a major complaint. This time Morrissey claims that an "airport security officer" at SFO (at SFO they're not TSA, but employees of Covenant Aviation Security who contract with TSA) approached him after he'd already gone through security screening and groped his penis and testicles for no apparent reason. The incident allegedly occurred on Monday afternoon, and he concludes, "should you find yourself traveling through San Francisco International Airport, you should expect sexual abuse from the so-called 'security officers' who, we are unconvincingly warned, are acting only for our security."

Morrissey described the whole incident on the fan zine True to You, and Rolling Stone and others subsequently picked up the story.

He writes:

At 2:30 in the afternoon I went through the usual airport security procedure including the stand-up 'scanner', and all was well - no bleeps and nothing unusual.

Before I could gather my belongings from the usual array of trays I was approached by an "airport security officer" who stopped me, crouched before me and groped my penis and testicles. He quickly moved away as an older "airport security officer" approached.

Morrissey says that the officer in question was identified as a "General Manager on Duty," and the singer proceeds to go on a tear about how he almost didn't lodge a complaint because figures of "authority" (scare quotes his) can't be questioned and his complaints "will obviously be either unread or ignored."

He also says that the officer was confronted about the groping by someone, possibly one of the singer's escorts from British Airways Special Services, and the security guy repeatedly responded to the accusations with "that's just your opinion."

As you may know, Morrissey's had a somewhat difficult relationship with the Bay Area in recent years, frustrating many local fans by canceling shows in Oakland and San Francisco, only to play dates in Stockton, San Jose, and Los Angeles instead. Then in May 2014 an over-zealous fan jumped on stage during the encore of a San Jose show, audibly body-slamming the singer, causing him to drop his microphone and leave the stage, ending the show right there.

At this rate, he may just never come back.