George Michael: Eastenders gay storyline “scaring children”
by Stephen Gray
11 November 2011, 9:32am
The musician took to Twitter last night to tell followers the BBC drama was “scaring the shit out of children”.
He said “The relationship between Sayed and Christian is the most insulting piece of bullshit on British television right now.
“Insulting to the gay community, insulting to the Muslim community, and in the meantime, terrifying every gay child that is struggling to come to terms with their sexuality , and the prospect of coming out to their family, whatever their religion.
“So far, Christian has been beaten up 3 times that I can remember, and is now accused of child molestation. Sayed has been disowned and is now mistreating his partner shamelessly, presumably because he is now a confused bisexual after all.
“Total fucking bullshit.”
Michael described modern soap operas as being hugely influential in society, with a power to positively reflect “race and integration”.
He praised the actors, John Partridge and Marc Elliott who portray an openly gay man and a Muslim who struggled to come to terms with his sexuality, eventually leaving his wife.
At the local boxing club, 15-year-old Ben Mitchell, played by Joshua Pascoe, confides to Partridge’s character that he is gay.
The younger character’s feelings initiate the storyline referenced by George Michael.
The star continued: “Life in London is a wonderful thing for so many gay and lesbian people these days, and I know that there are gay people involved in the writing of the show but they really need to rethink their approach to gay ‘issues’. They are scaring the shit out of children everywhere.”
He concluded by saying that he hoped for the sakes of the actors and for “the sake of gay kids in this country, regardless of their cultural background, that Eastenders gets a clue and begins to acknowledge their responsibility and provides us with gay characters that have no reason to live in fear. We do exist.”
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