Out in Music: June 2008 Archives

Writer Brandon Voss has a terrific interview with George Michael in the new issue of HX and I wanted to share some of it with you on this scorchingly HOT Friday morning in Los Angeles. Somedoby, please, get me a popsicle!

Some excerpts:
Are you trying to please gay fans in particular with this tour?
There is such a large part of that audience that's stuck with me in America. In America I think there will be a lot of gay people in the audiences--I really think it will be 50/50. In Europe the front rows were just full of these gorgeous gay men, but when we got back to England, they were few and far between. Funnily enough, the more right-wing or Catholic the country, the more gay people were at the concerts; in places where gay people are still more oppressed, they will absolutely support a gay artist. In England, they don't feel the need to identify. I constantly chip away at my female audience by insisting on writing about my life--though you'd never know it when you go to the shows because they're all screaming their heads off. But I've literally paid a price just for being unapologetic, and I thought that was very important politically.

Did you feel a special connection with gay fans even before you came out in 1998? Surely you must've known it wasn't just girls eyeing your butt in the Faith days.
Oh God, yeah, I knew that. With all those number one club records and stuff, I really have had a great amount of support from the gay community in America in the last 15 years, so absolutely that's special. I actually write about my real experience now, and I think that's one of the things that makes it easier for gay people to listen to.

Did you get any positive feedback from a gay fan that made coming out professionally worth the drama?
Quite a few people have written to me over the years on that basis. From the moment I outed myself, when I wrote "Outside," immediately I thought, Wouldn't it be great to make a video for all those kids that are now where you were 25 years ago, with your only experience being cruising--and feeling terrible about it because you're 16 or whatever? If someone had made a video like that for my entertainment when I was a young guy, I would've loved it.

To read the interview in its entirety, click HERE.