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George Michael denied bid to choose sentence
CNN Showbuzz, November 24, 1998 LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- George Michael said Monday a judge rejected his request that he be permitted to serve 81 hours of court-ordered community service for lewd conduct by helping deliver meals to AIDS victims. Michael claimed the judge denied his bid in retaliation for Michael's comments about his arrest by a plainclothes policeman in a men's toilet. "I have talked openly about police entrapment and in my latest video made light of recent events," Michael told reporters, reading from a statement. Michael said that when he was sentenced in May to community service, he asked to be allowed to help Project Angel Food, which delivers about 1,000 meals a day to people who are HIV-positive or have AIDS. Michael asked the judge to reconsider the sentence. As it stands, Michael will perform community service with a program that urges schoolchildren to do charity work.
George Michael cancels plans for world tour
CNN Showbuzz, September 4, 1998 LONDON (CNN) -- The Sun tabloid is reporting that George Michael has backed out of plans to go on a world tour because he is still trying to cope with a string of recent personal traumas. The tour -- the first for Michael in eight years -- was reportedly to have opened next March with a series of concerts in Britain. Earlier this year, Michael, 35, made a public apology on CNN to his fans after being arrested in Los Angeles on a charge of lewd behavior. He also acknowledged publicly that he is gay. The Sun said he is also coping with the death of his mother last year.
Exclusive: George Michael acknowledges homosexuality
George Michael acknowledes his homosexuality in an exclusive interview with CNN
CNN Showbuzz, April 11, 1998 -- Click here for the full interview transcript!
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LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- For the first time in his two-decade music career, British pop star George Michael told CNN in an exclusive interview late Friday that he is gay. "This is as good of a time as any," he told CNN's Jim Moret. "I want to say that I have no problem with people knowing that I'm in a relationship with a man right now. I have not been in a relationship with a woman for almost 10 years." Asked why he felt compelled to open up a part of his private life, Michael said, "I feel because I've already kind of done that -- haven't I? I've done that in a way I didn't really intend to." |
 Michael talks with CNN's Jim Moret |
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The singer's comments came after a trying week in which he was booked for investigation of misdemeanor lewd conduct and released on $500 bail. Michael, 34, was alone in the restroom of a Beverly Hills park Tuesday evening when an undercover officer saw him allegedly commit the act. He would not talk about the specifics of the case. "I don't even have a choice about commenting about the specifics, because at the moment it's in the hands of the district attorney," he said in his first public comments since the incident. But he added, "The truth is I put myself in an extremely stupid and vulnerable position." "I don't feel any shame. I feel stupid and I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way. But I don't feel any shame whatsoever," he said, adding that this was not the first time he had acted in a similar "reckless" fashion. Michael, whose real name is Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, apologized to his fans for the alleged incident, saying he hoped they would stand by him. "I just want to let them know that I'm okay," he said. Michael earned stardom as one-half of the 1980s teeny-bopper duo Wham!, which hit it big with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Careless Whisper." After the duo broke up, Michael went solo, and saw his 1987 debut album "Faith" sell more than 10 million copies. His last album, 1996's moody "Older," went to the top of the British charts but got a lukewarm reception in the United States. In Friday's interview, Michael also said he wanted fans to know that he's always been truthful in his music. "I've never been reticent in terms of defining my sexuality (in my work). I write about my life," he said. "I do want people to know that the songs that I wrote when I was with women were really about women. And the songs that I've written since have been fairly obvious about men." |