Michael Stipe No Longer Trapped In The Closet
It's something everyone seemed to already know -- i.e., note the, ok, maybe less-than-tender comments from this thread last week -- but post-SXSW, and on the eve of Accelerate's 4/1 release date, Stipe has finally made those longtime rumors official in SPIN...
[Photo by Brian Brooks Via IndieWire]
Yes, he's gay. As he told SPIN:
"It was super complicated for me in the '80s ... I was totally open with the band and my family and my friends and certainly the people I was sleeping with. I thought it was pretty obvious."
The singer, who had always deflected questions about his sexual orientation, says he "didn't always see" how coming out could help others.
"But I see now, of course, that's the case," he says. "I'd just never felt strongly enough about a particular relationship to say, 'Yeah, he's my boyfriend, that is what it is.'
"Now I recognize that to have public figures be very open about their sexuality helps some kid somewhere out there."
Well, having SPIN break a story does seems pretty '80s of you, Michael. Glad to see this is finally official, though. Big ups, sir.
Posted at 9:39 AM
Tags: Michael Stipe | R.E.M.
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'bout time mate.
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First Clarice Starling, now this. WHERE HAVE ALL THE HETROS GONE? Gay Pride 08.
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Good for him!
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Spin didn't break this. I've read that on numerous occasions. Maybe they were the most mass-oriented coverage, but most definitely not the first.
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I could have sworn he came out on Behind the Music, nearly 10 years ago?
Either way, good to see so many public figures being open about it in the last few years without a bunch of loudmouths then mistaking it for any of their business. Good for you, Michael Stipe and others, and thank you.
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up next: morrissey?
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Rick -
Yeah, I remember him saying something about his "queerness" on that Behind the Music episode.
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the oldest of old news.
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Shocker !
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He's the lead singer of that new band, R.E.M, isn't he?
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Good man.
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i could have sworn he came out in Spin 10 years ago. Perhaps the real news it that he has Alzheimer's?
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i remember him talking about his first boyfriend in a mag (i forget) about 4 years ago. i assume thats when he truly came out, no?
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He first came out in May 2001: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/michael-stipe-reveals-he-is-gay-and-joins-a-select-band-of-pop-stars-684839.html
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warning. bad joke: http://www.maketradefair.com/en/img/dumped/michael03big.jpg
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REM is my favorite band and I appreciate him making these sort of statements - and yeah, it was pretty obvious! - but he's also someone famous enough who can now do it on his own terms. In a piece in SPIN on the Promise Ring years back, Jason Gnewikow was completely prodded by the writer into coming out (at least to fans) and it almost became the focal point of the story (I'm paraphrasing, but it read like "Davey might be the one with the lisp, but JASON IS THE GAY ONE!!!! WHO KNEW!!??!"). It came off as tabloid trash and not as an article based on the band's merit.
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I love REM but I'm sure this 'Stipe's Admits to Being Gay' headline has popped up every time they've released an album in the last 10 years. Old news!
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I don't believe it. Gay?
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I feel like I ought to say something patently offensive, but since he's come out half a dozen times before, I don't think there's anything I can add to this.
Next album, he should reveal that he's SUPER gay, like weird gay. Like the Gene Simmons of gay. I think we agree that would be more fun for everyone.
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I wouldn't believe it, except for the picture my wife has of him with a male stripper at Go Bar in Athens, GA from, shit, 8 years ago now...
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"I'd just never felt strongly enough about a particular relationship to say, 'Yeah, he's my boyfriend, that is what it is."
To all his old boyfriends - ouch.
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NO WAY!
PS rofl @ thor :D
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He "came out" in DETAILS. Circa 1993.
15 years ago. That's a lot of boyfriends.
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first dumbledore, now this...
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this just in: Michael Stipe is BALD!
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I didn't know he hadn't come out.
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Hey J - re Jason Gwenikow of Promise Ring: that wasn't news to Milwaukeeans - he'd been out in local media since forever.
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I read this in TIME Magazine about 8 years ago
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I'd never seen REM live before, and haven't followed their career or personal lives. But after watching Stipe prance and swish around the Stubb's stage at sxsw, I mentioned to my wife the next day that he sure acts like a stereotypical gay man, even if he isn't. Except, it turns out that he is. What a shocker.
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He came out as bi in 1984 with "Pretty Persuasion," which is about as clear as it gets.
Then the song and video "Losing My Religion" sort of nailed it down, didn't it?
A related question ... is Thom Yorke gay? Seriously. And right there would be a scoop for the ol traditional media.
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It's sort of obvious now that I think about it. I love R.E.M. just the same. "Nightswimming" takes on a whole different perspective now...Wow. Anyway, still great.
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It's sort of obvious now that I think about it. I love R.E.M. just the same.
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Are people really just now figuring this out? He's always admitted to at least being bisexual, but said he didn't want to put a "label" on it.
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the spin.com sneak preview article says stipe has been out for years, so congratulations on being late to the party, stereogum...and what a fabulous party it is:
The only time Stipe really takes a break is when he head to Europe most summers with his boyfriend. Following a long period of speculation about his sexuality, during which he was stubbornly coy and ambiguous, Stipe has been out for years but has rarely publicly discussed the topic in any depth. "It was supercomplicated for me in the '80s," he says. "I was totally open with the band and my family and my friends and certainly the people I was sleeping with. I thought it was pretty obvious."
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the spin.com sneak preview article says stipe has been out for years, so congratulations on being late to the party, stereogum...and what a fabulous party it is:
The only time Stipe really takes a break is when he head to Europe most summers with his boyfriend. Following a long period of speculation about his sexuality, during which he was stubbornly coy and ambiguous, Stipe has been out for years but has rarely publicly discussed the topic in any depth. "It was supercomplicated for me in the '80s," he says. "I was totally open with the band and my family and my friends and certainly the people I was sleeping with. I thought it was pretty obvious."
http://www.spin.com/articles/sneak-peek-spins-rem-cover-story
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wow!!! well done at last!! really good for michael to do the deed yes there are kids out there who think now i can come out....thanks michael...
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Are you all kidding? 'he "didn't always see" how coming out could help others.'
But he had zero problem preaching to everyone about vegetarianism and acid war and shiny happy people and every fucking other issue in the book instead of possibly helping some lonely kid who thought they were alone in being gay in the 80s?
Stipe can go fuck himself. He's a fucking hypocrite. Be political or don't be, but don't be that blatantly preachily political and avoid the one fucking political issue he could have made a fucking difference on.
And now he 'comes out' when it's safe, when millions of other gays made it possible for him to do so safely? Go eat a bag of dicks, Stipe. Seriously.
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LOL gays
No really that's cool
haha gay
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=MuHayrdAP_k
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oh well at least we still have the teletubbies (and we know they're hetero)
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oh well at least we still have the teletubbies (and we know they're hetero)
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another blow to straight america, how much can they take?
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another blow to straight america, how much can they take?
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I thought he was in butt magazine just to be hip!
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I always knew he was gay, and I honestly had no idea he was still in the closet. I thought he came out years ago. Who knew.
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Ok, I dig R.E.M whatever...I'm openly gay and have been so for the last 14 years to everyone in my life and anyone else when it comes up in conversation, it's never been a big deal to me. All that aside, am I the only one that thinks it's a cunty move to publicly 'come out' after so much success? After all the music and time in the spotlight? Yeah thanks for the afterthought Stipe, good job being a 'help' to someone else out there when it would've made a difference. I hate Rosie O'Donell, always have actually...simply based on her body of work, but more so for the the fact that when she had her own tv show she was not only in the closet but would always gush about how much she got wet over Tom Cruise...then when the shows done "Hey everyone I'm a dyke after all!" Now everytime I hear an R.E.M song I'll think damn what a shiney happy cunt Mr. Stipe is for stating the obvious at the most convenient, easy time and not when it mattered. But there is enough fay, nelly fags out there for people to structure their limiting gay stereo types on so I guess I can still loose my religion and stomach my veggie burger at the same time. Stipe at least made some ok music in his day. And to everyone with a wrinkle in their panty, saying 'it's no one's business, it his right to disclose what he wants when he wants" I bet your not gay and have no idea what it's like, so shhhhh honey...drink your orange crush Shelby...
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Minkie, my thoughts exactly, read a few posts earlier from moi.
I'm so sure now that there's Queer Eye, the L Word, Will and Grace, and an open Ellen DeGeneris? Oh fuck me slowly with a feather boa. I'm straight but I can still sense total complete bullshit hypocrisy. "oh you know, I didn't think it mattered."
Again, the one fucking political and personal issue he could have made a difference on and didn't? I say again: go eat a bag of dicks.
Oh and high five on the Rosie O'Donnell shit - I remember her being all "My Tommy" about (what??) Tom Cruise and then goes on...wordplay here...the gay family CRUISE and puts it on T.V.? AYFKM?
Dear Gays that were brave enough to say we're here, we're queer, get used to it: thank you.
Dear Everyone else that's too cowardly to come out and stand up for who they are and what they believe in: you're welcome.
OK. You can all borrow my soapbox if you want. LOLZ!
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I AGREE TOTALLY! Thank you for having a brain! I thought I was the only one that felt this way!
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this news isn't ten years old, being gay is ten years old. someone needs to come out and confess to being a eunich. let's hope it's gene simmons.
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It's true that Stipe had to be blatantly lying when he said that he "didn't always see" how coming out might help some kid out there, so he loses points for being dishonest. But he also doesn't owe anyone anything in terms of publicizing his sexual orientation. And yes, Minkie, it is absolutely his right to disclose what he wants, if and when he wants. It's not acceptable to guilt-trip someone into revealing private information just to make you feel better about yourself.
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Ummm. He has talked about his boyfriend openly for years. Did he actually ever said he was gay? I mean I always got the picture he didn't want to label it. He said in the 90's that labels are for canned food. He's not the one coming out of the closet but the media seems to keep on dragging him out all the time. He actually said it was very frustrating.
Nothing's that black and white. And at the end of the day it's the person you fall for not the gender. It's unbelievable that still in the year 2008 people find sexuality issues such a big deal. He's happy and he has right to to live the way he pleases and talk about it when he feels like it.
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