George Michael Slams EastEnders, BBC Defend Gay Storyline (PHOTOS)

George Michael

First Posted: 11/11/11 15:09 GMT Updated: 11/11/11 15:09 GMT   PA

EastEnders bosses have defended their portrayal of homosexual issues after George Michael slammed their storylines as "insulting" to the gay community.

The gay singer tweeted after last night's episode, which saw Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) storming around to Christian Clarke's (John Partridge) home with a baseball bat after he was falsely accused of molesting schoolboy Ben Mitchell (Joshua Pascoe).

"It's official... George Michael has had enough of EastEnders... Gay people deserve better than the BBC's pathetic attempts to 'represent' us", he wrote.

"Message to gay kids in Britain. The East End of London is one of the best places on earth to be a modern gay man or couple. The relationship between Sayed [sic] and Christian is the most insulting piece of b****** on British television right now."

He continued: "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."

An EastEnders spokesperson told Digital Spy: "EastEnders reflects a wide range of issues, but they are always individual to characters in order to create drama. We are not claiming to be factually representative.

"EastEnders viewers will know this is more a story about a tough character like Phil Mitchell struggling to come to terms with having a gay son."

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Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal played a gay couple in Brokeback Mountain

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EastEnders bosses have defended their portrayal of homosexual issues after George Michael slammed their storylines as "insulting" to the gay community. The gay singer tweeted after last night's epi...
EastEnders bosses have defended their portrayal of homosexual issues after George Michael slammed their storylines as "insulting" to the gay community. The gay singer tweeted after last night's epi...
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02:38 PM on 11/12/2011
The problem is not that it is a negative story line. It's that ONLY negative story lines are used for gay people. It's ALWAYS bad and sad.

Straight people are represented as either happy and normal or troubles and wierd. Gay people are ALWAYS troubled and wierd. There are no positive happy normal gay people shown on TV. This lack of variety of representation is the problem. Show some gay people as just regular people with happy lives like straight people are shown.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ppenguinator
Life's too imprtant to be taken seriously.
07:35 PM on 11/13/2011
True, but, there are very few happy, normal, people on TV in general. They just aren't interesting.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Peggy Kendrick
Edited micro-bio. Happy now!?
08:55 AM on 11/12/2011
I agree with George Michael.
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BeeJayCeee
I still loathe Thatcher
08:17 AM on 11/12/2011
I know, how about have the gay character masturbating in a public toilet at an undercover police officer. then crash his luxury car into a photo shop will high on drugs? No? Yeah, you're right, no one would believe that.