George Michael criticises EastEnders over gay storylines

Singer George Michael has slammed BBC One’s soap EastEnders for its current storylines involving gay characters which, he claimed were “scaring” children.

Michael (pictured above) feels that the soap isn’t giving a positive representation of being gay and that its current crop of storylines involving its gay characters are “scaring” children. He argues that the soap should be showing that gay people do not need to live in fear. At present the soap has two openly gay characters; Christian (John Partridge, pictured below) and Syed (Marc Elliot) who are a couple – though their relationship is currently being pushed to the limits by the return of Syed’s wife Amira (Preeya Kalidas). EastEnders has also recently begun a storyline with Ben Mitchell (Joshua Pascoe) who is coming to terms with his sexuality.

The relationship between Christian and Syed has sparked the irk of Michael who took to Twitter to vent his criticisms. He posted ‘The relationship between Syed and Christian is the most insulting piece of b******t 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.’

The Musician added, of the current twists and turns of the Christian/Syed/Amira storyline ‘So far, Christian has been beaten up 3 times that I can remember, and is now accused of child molestation. Syed has been disowned and is now mistreating his partner shamelessly, presumably because he is now a confused bisexual after all.’ He 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 s*** out of children everywhere.’

EastEnders has a long history of featuring gay and lesbian characters: it was one of the first UK soaps to have a gay couple the introduction of which, in the late 1980s, provoked such disgusting and homophobic headlines, from certain tabloids, as ‘EastBenders’. In recent years though soaps such as Hollyoaks and Emmerdale have won praise and acclaim for their gay characters and storylines whereas EastEnders and Coronation Street have come under fire from some quarters – such as Brian Sewell – for featuring ‘too many’ gay characters.

(via Pink News)