George Michael: Pillars of pop have to commit real crimes - Julie Burchill
"I love George Michael. I consider him a songwriter of massive talent, occasionally touched with genius. I met him only once, just before Wham! broke up, and a small thing he did on that occasion spoke volumes. I rocked up to interview him for The Times, to his flat in Kensington, knocked on the door - and there he stood, in a doorway that opened right on to the busy street. In a business in which even minor stars have lackeys to open doors and pour drinks ("Shall I be mother?" he twinkled over the teapot – and I STILL didn't catch on...) this was more than refreshing – it was revealing.
His crime, while foolish and certainly deserving of the short custodial sentence it received, hurt no one. So when he gets out of jail next month, how about calling off what appears to be open season on this sweet, soulful, solitary man? So many vile crimes have been committed by crooning cretins. Yet GM is pilloried far more than any wife-beating Beatle, paedophiliac ex-Stone or child-pornography-downloading member of The Who.
I suspect his real crime, in the eyes of many, is being true to himself; a complex, tormented but ultimately honest man who will have no truck with the Big Lie that families are fun and that monogamous marriage, be it straight or gay, is the ultimate goal for everyone. Never mind, George, just download some kiddie porn, sleep with a 13-year-old and beat up a woman, and you too can become a pillar of the pop establishment."
"I love George Michael. I consider him a songwriter of massive talent, occasionally touched with genius. I met him only once, just before Wham! broke up, and a small thing he did on that occasion spoke volumes. I rocked up to interview him for The Times, to his flat in Kensington, knocked on the door - and there he stood, in a doorway that opened right on to the busy street. In a business in which even minor stars have lackeys to open doors and pour drinks ("Shall I be mother?" he twinkled over the teapot – and I STILL didn't catch on...) this was more than refreshing – it was revealing.
His crime, while foolish and certainly deserving of the short custodial sentence it received, hurt no one. So when he gets out of jail next month, how about calling off what appears to be open season on this sweet, soulful, solitary man? So many vile crimes have been committed by crooning cretins. Yet GM is pilloried far more than any wife-beating Beatle, paedophiliac ex-Stone or child-pornography-downloading member of The Who.
I suspect his real crime, in the eyes of many, is being true to himself; a complex, tormented but ultimately honest man who will have no truck with the Big Lie that families are fun and that monogamous marriage, be it straight or gay, is the ultimate goal for everyone. Never mind, George, just download some kiddie porn, sleep with a 13-year-old and beat up a woman, and you too can become a pillar of the pop establishment."
