Tabloid outs Michael

The News of the World outed George Michael on Sunday. The story? Its paparazzi caught him cruising for “Fastlove” in a London park. No doubt this story embarrassed his family and fans alike. But it could not have surprised any of them.

What grown men do behind closed doors? I couldn’t care less. But treating public places like gay bathhouses? That’s where I draw the line.

Yet, according to this salacious story, that’s how Michael was treating this park. And it seems to be a sordid habit.

We need only recall how this purported ladies’ man was first outed. The police arrested him in 1998 when he propositioned a vice cop for sex. And, sure enough, he did so in the public toilet of a Los Angeles park.

Of course, the last thing he, or his record label, wanted? To ruin his reputation as a ladies’ man. After all, that reputation induced millions of women to buy his albums.

Michael’s downward spiral

Hugh Grant created the blueprint for this kind of mess. You know, celebrities rehabilitating their reputations after getting caught with their pants down. 

Michael tried to follow it. Talk shows? He did them, making light of his ‘momentary lapse in judgment.’ A self-indulgent parody of his arrest in a music video titled ‘Outside.’? He did that too. But it didn’t work.

That indecent proposal in a public toilet turned out to be a tipping point. Because Michael began making news more for public drunkenness and lewd public behavior.

The days of making news for soulful recordings and riveting performances? Gone. Such has been the highs and lows of his life since 1998.

You’d never know that George Michael almost dethroned Michael Jackson as the king of pop. But it turns out he’s almost as perverted as MJ. “The Strangest Thing” is that, when “[He] Is In Need Of Love Today,” being “Safe” from public view or STDs does not matter to him.

He hooked up with a “Father Figure” on this occasion. The unemployed man is 58 and lives in squalid conditions with a 20-year-old cat. And he was all too eager to share lurid details of their Wham!-bam-thank-you-man frolic. That is, once he realized his cruising partner was famous.

No doubt News of the World made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. And so, this “Happy” lover and Michael were both “Kissing A Fool.”

But this latest outing is costing him in more ways than one. Reports are that his long-suffering boyfriend, Kenny Goss, has called off their wedding. Who can blame him?

No one should have “Faith and Patience” in the face of such brazen infidelity and disrespect. That would make you a doormat, not a lover or spouse.

Concerned music executives and loved ones

Until George realises he has a problem there is not a lot we can do. … He thinks there is nothing wrong with the odd bit of cannabis use and he also thinks there is nothing wrong with having sex with strangers.

(Daily Mail, March 21, 2006)

But don’t call him a “Freeek.” Because Michael would probably say to you what he reportedly said to the paparazzo who caught him cruising in the park:

Are you gay? No? Then fuck off! This is my culture! I’m a free man, I can do whatever I want. I’m not harming anyone.

Clearly, his “Careless Whispers” have evolved into a “Killer” approach to life. Because Michael is behaving like “It Doesn’t Really Matter” anymore.