Stormzy attacks NME for unauthorized use of his image as magazine cover

Grime kingpin Stormzy has shared his frustration with British magazine NME after the publication used his photo without his permission for its March 2017 magazine cover.

The March 2017 issue of NME focuses on the mental health issue of depression and many in the industry, including Stormzy, shared their stories for the cover feature. With Stormzy as the cover image it is suggested that he is the face of the campaign, but Stormzy says he never wanted to be.

Stormzy took to Twitter to elaborate on how NME went behind his back: “The reason I'm so angry is because NME have been begging me to be on their cover. I have refused. Then they do this. So after me refusing to be on their cover. They then see me talking bout my journey with depression and think yeah we've got him now”.

He would further share his frustration: “I should at least have a say in whether my face is used for a campaign. I've no issue with sharing my story but, with my permission! ...using my face as a poster boy for it to sell your magazine is so foul and below the belt I will never respect you lot”.

NME later replied with a series of Tweets detailing why they chose to use an image of Stormzy: "Hi Stormzy, Editor Mike here. I’m sorry that you didn’t know your image would be our cover. Our intentions were only positive... We were inspired by your words and wanted to use them as a springboard to talk about depression and how it shouldn’t be taboo... We used your image as we felt it would resonate most with our readers, and I can only apologise again that you didn’t know... I'm really sorry this has happened. We're a free magazine and were not trying to shift copies, just talk about something important".

View the magazine cover for NME's March 2017 issue below.

Harrison is Mixmag's East Coast Editor. Follow him on Twitter here