If you give George Michael credit for anything, let it be self-awareness. He’s been arrested multiple times, mostly for drugs and (fairly embarrassing) public sex. Last year, on his way home from a Gay Pride parade in London, stoned, when he smashed his car into a storefront. So, when Michael says he’s been a bad example to gay youth, at least he’s being honest with himself. And now, he says, he’s going to make it up to them.
“My next album will seek to correct the damage I inadvertently caused by making myself so newsworthy and, because I am so high-profile, leaving no room for young kids to protect themselves from that language,” Michael said at a press conference. To that end, he’ll assemble a “gay collaborative” of queer artists and allies to work on the record. We think this is a fantastic idea, and suggest he include Rufus Wainwright, Lady Gaga, Christopher Owens from Girls, JD Samson — really, anyone but Boy George, whose criminal record makes Michael’s look quaint. [Guardian via The Daily Swarm]