Back in April 1998, there was only one story dominating the newspapers: George Michael had been arrested in a public toilet in LA for performing “a lewd act” on another man, the specifics of which barely needed explaining. “Zip me up before you go go!” screamed just one of the many gleeful headlines, and the tabloids made hay of the 'scandal' for weeks afterwards.
It’s now 25 years since the much-loved British singer's arrest – and six since his shock death of heart disease, aged just 53, in 2016 – but it’s still embedded in many people’s minds as a huge moment in pop culture history. And like other infamous events of that era that have now been reevaluated through a more progressive lens, there was a much darker story behind what was presented as hilarious celebrity gossip.
The newspapers used the opportunity to out the 34-year-old at a time when only his close friends knew of his sexuality; he had chosen not to reveal it to family members, including his mother, or the wider public. As Michael explained on Desert Island Discs back in 2007: “Understand how much I love my family and that Aids was the predominant feature of being gay in the 1980s and early 90s as far as any parent was concerned[...] My mother was still alive and every single day would have been a nightmare for her thinking what I might have been subjected to.”
He wasn't alone in his experience. During the Aids crisis, in a time when gay people were regularly pilloried and monstered in the press, many other men – members of the general public, no less – were also outed in national newspapers under the guise of being “in the public interest”. Director Michael Ogden is now re-examining this shameful time in British history and using Michael’s famous outing as the focus in a two-part Channel 4 documentary called George Michael: Outed.
Ogden has pulled together a wealth of interviewees and previously unseen footage around Michael’s story. His former partner Kenny Goss and his cousin Andros Georgiou talk about that fateful arrest and the impact it had on him; Holly Johnson, Will Young and Olly Alexander talk about Michael’s influence and being gay in the public eye; while Ogden even tracked down former journalists, editors and paparazzi who explain how they covered the story at the time.
However, there is a twist in the tale for Michael, who ended up reclaiming the narrative of his much-publicised encounter, as viewers will find out in the film. As he states in an old interview unearthed for the documentary: “I hope to be remembered as a gay man who would not be apologetic for his sexuality”.
Esquire chatted to Ogden about getting the insider track on the personal history of one of the best-selling musicians of all time, and how this event is still sending ripples through culture today:
There’s a great many famous faces in the documentary who all see George as an icon. Was there anybody who declined to be part of it?
Well, it’s not made with the estate’s backing. They didn’t know who I was and perhaps they’re protective over the estate and what’s published, and are protective over who George is. We contacted them but they didn’t reply. I also think this is a gay story, and as a gay man, with gay contributors, we can take back ownership of who George is, we can shine a light on that story that is integral to who he is. And reclaiming a really important landmark moment. As [record executive] Colin Bell says: 'It’s a staging post in our history’.
But people really loved George and we often played people his music as we were getting ready to interview them and it lifted the mood and we’d talk about his music. It’s joyous, moving, poignant, and it feels powerful. I think everybody felt that they wanted to be part of [the film] because George was so profoundly good at what he did, but he was also conflicted.
The interview with Kenny is particularly intimate, what did you take from his views on it all?
He was so genuinely brilliant and nice and, actually, here’s a man who loves George to this very day and I don’t think he’s ever had the chance to sit down and talk on camera in the way he did. I have so much respect for him, and I think he is a man who was devastated by his death, he was still in love with him, still loved him. He hinted a little bit about never being able to live in the moment; always worrying about George and that relationship, he was the grounded one, and worrying about this person who was in the public eye, this swirling world.
What did you think of how George Michael tackled the fallout from the arrest?
Early on, I realised we had to get in the war room, as it were. In the films there are two people who were there, who we go to for that: Kenny, his partner who he was living with, and Andros, who flew out a few hours after it happened. It feels to me that George just thought he was going to handle it himself, ‘This is how it’s going to work and this is what I want to do’. Going out for dinner on the night it broke was kind of amazing. I’m more like Kenny; I would want to hide away, get a takeaway and go to bed. I wouldn’t have the balls to go out for dinner, but why not? He fronted that off, that kickback was a really special moment.
The CNN interview where he confronted it all – so intelligently, as well – was a masterstroke.
We got Kenny to watch the whole CNN interview again and it was interesting because he said, ‘Ooh, he’s a little bit apologetic. Just a little bit later, a month on say, he wouldn’t have been that apologetic.’ You could see he got more ‘fuck you’ as time went on, like in the Parkinson interview.
By that point he seems to be self-deprecating and able to joke about it. Then, there’s the Outside video…
Yeah, it’s sarcastic and funny and joyous and sends up the police and sex and the paps. The idea of doing the dance in the toilet – we watched the video a lot! – there’s a moment where he’s performing and he clearly does a move wrong and you can see him laughing, and it stayed in. It’s life affirming, and sexy too. He became a great defender of a certain gay lifestyle and I think that’s brilliant. It’s just sad he had to be a defender.
What do you hope people will take from the documentary?
I’ve always hoped that people get an understanding about what it’s like to come out, but also the idea that things may have moved on, but really, they haven’t. We’re not in a great place and we need to defend those rights and we need allies to help us defend those rights. There’s a comment in the film about how people like George and others were crucified in the press, and I want people to take away from the film that this is not just history; it’s a lesson.
George Michael: Outed starts on Channel 4 on Monday 6 March at 9pm, with the second part airing at the same time on Tuesday 7 March.
