U2 frontman Bono has publicly chastised the band's manager in a letter to music magazine, NME. In a letter to the publication last week, Bono sought to distance himself from remarks made by manager Paul McGuinness about Radiohead's latest album, which was sold online and allowed fans to decide what they wished to pay for it.

McGuinness recently told the BBC in an interview that Radiohead's innovative distribution method had "backfired", something Bono said he strongly disagreed with. "I wanted to set the record straight on behalf of the members of U2 on comments made to the BBC by our much-loved and valued manager, Paul McGuinness, regarding Radiohead's decision to make the music of In Rainbows available as a download, using the 'honesty box' idea for payment," Bono wrote.

"We [U2] disagree with Paul's assessment of Radiohead's release as 'having backfired to a certain extent.' We think they were courageous and imaginative in trying to figure out some new relationship with their audience."

The decision by Bono to publicly distance himself from McGuinness's remarks is a surprising step for the Dublin man who frequently attributes his band's success to the manager's hard work over the years.

Instead of following McGuinness's lead and berating Radiohead, who recently played Malahide Castle in Dublin, Bono instead heaped praise on the Oxford group and said they possessed "imagination and courage." He called them "a sacred talent." U2 "feel blessed to be around them at the same time," he said.

NME published the letter in the prominent position of letter of the week in its opening pages.

Since then, there has been widespread debate online about Bono's motivation for speaking out so publicly against his band's own management team.