Michael Stipe’s Silly
Michael Stipe, who shocked the world by announcing his homosexuality this week, offers another statement today: REM cohorts Mike Mills and Peter Buck are heterosexual, or straight.
It’s an absolutely startling turn of events and we’re not quite sure whether the world will ever be the same.
I have met Michael, and I like him. His art, I -love-!
Still, I struggle with outing-politics. Part of me wants to say: “Hooray for him, Hooray for us!”, part of me says: Uhm, what took you so long???
I respect Michael, but I am troubled whether his decision to delay his “coming out” was influenced more by financial speculations rather than peronal questions over privacy, ethics, et al.
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Andrew: I thought I’d write to clarify because the false idea that he recently “came out” in Spin is a bit off-the-mark. “Us Weekly” misquoted what the Spin article actually says:
“Following a long period of speculation about his sexuality, during which he was stubbornly coy and ambiguous, Stipe has been out for years but has rarely publicly discussed the topic in any depth. “It was supercomplicated for me in the ’80s,” he says. “I was totally open with the band and my family and my friends and certainly the people I was sleeping with. I thought it was pretty obvious.”
So it’s not that he’s coming out now — He publicly came out in 2001 (or even earlier by some accounts). THe Spin” writer is just discussing the topic of his sexuality withy him in the article.
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Hah, funny.
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Oh yes, it was “supercomplicated” when my band was massively successful, we had youth culture in the palm of our hand and I couldve helped millions of scared, closeted teens. What a douche.
I dont attack celebrities who keep their sexuality to themselves, but you don’t get a pat on the back and an award for coming out when you’re 47, semi-retired and barely relevant to the larger culture.
And “I thought it was pretty obvious” is the line used by Nathan Lane, Rosie O’Donnell and other stars who try to retroactively pretend they were never desperately closeted.
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it wouldn’t have been cooler for him to come out when he had more success and not when it had already cooled …
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I don’t mean to sound ignorant but didn’t Michael Stipe come out in 2001? I remember it being announced when ‘Reveal’ came out. At least in Australia, it was explicitly stated in a few pieces on Channel V (music station). Is it just my memory screwing up?
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Doy, I just read G-A-Y’s post. Oops.
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You would think that in the rock world, it wouldn’t be too tough to actually come out but unfortunately there aren’t too many welcoming parties for gay rockers. George Michael, Elton John and even folk/country/rock goddess(lesbian) Kd Lang wouldn’t come out right away. Like most artists they wait until the time is right or when the water safe,the come out publicly. That isn’t saying that no one knew of their status or they were closeted, it just seems that their job or career consist of them being in the public eye all the time. We are fortunate to be living in a time when kids are coming out at 13 and 14 years old. Some people might not find that to be too good or positive but it really is what it is. Besides all the lastest gadgets like the internet, there are also clubs in schools and even schools that are geared at gay youth. Being gay isn’t something that someone should be embarrassed by or shamed of. However there isn’t a manual how to successful come out without pissing off someone. I don’t look at it as Michael waited to come out because he wanted to drum up publicity for the band. He is already an established artist with a following already. It seems everyday someone in the entertainment world or sports world is coming out. It’s really nothing for someone to come out and actually have a support group or have someone in their corner backing them 100%. It seems like now artist aren’t worried about losing any contracts,endorsements or sponsorships, which would have been the case a few years back. Back when REM was really revelavant, I couldn’t imagine Michael coming out and saying he was gay or even bisexual.
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Didn’t he come out in like… 1993/4? Like forEVER ago?
He said he was bi… which I took to mean, back then, gay. *shrugs*
Stipe is beautiful, soulful, amazing, and awesome.
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spot on.