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Pop star George Michael silences the critics ... on own website
LONDON (AFP) - British pop star George Michael has decided to close down a fans' chatroom on his official website after messages accused him of being old, overweight and lazy.
The 41-year-old, one of the most successful pop musicians of recent decades, said he had been upset to see the forum "packed full of negative comment".
Some vistors to the chatroom at www.georgemichael.com had accused the musician of looking past his best, and of not sufficiently promoting his album, "Patience", the first new work in eight years.
In a message to fans posted earlier this week, Micheal, born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in London to Greek Cypriot parents, said he had had enough.
"I'm afraid that, having visited the forums on a regular basis over the past few months, simply to see how you guys thought the album/interviews/promotion were going, I have decided to close them down," the message read.
Michael said he found it "really sad to see the forums so packed full of negative comment, and that so many genuinely positive fans find themselves defending me (or themselves) constantly against attack."
"There are plenty of places to read people slagging each other off, but I wasn't trying to create one in opening the forum.
"Those of you that want to carry on the media's work will have to do it somewhere else I suppose."
Michael is famously wary of the media, having been ridiculed over events such as his 1998 arrest in Los Angeles for lewd behaviour in a public toilet, which prompted the secretive star to finally acknowledge his homosexuality.
However some fans using the website on Thursday -- the chatroom will be closed down later this month -- were scathing.
"It's a fans' forum, it's freedom of speech and I don't think it's down to George to take his ball home and say 'I'm not playing any more'," one wrote.
Pop star George Michael silences the critics ... on own website
LONDON (AFP) - British pop star George Michael has decided to close down a fans' chatroom on his official website after messages accused him of being old, overweight and lazy.
The 41-year-old, one of the most successful pop musicians of recent decades, said he had been upset to see the forum "packed full of negative comment".
Some vistors to the chatroom at www.georgemichael.com had accused the musician of looking past his best, and of not sufficiently promoting his album, "Patience", the first new work in eight years.
In a message to fans posted earlier this week, Micheal, born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in London to Greek Cypriot parents, said he had had enough.
"I'm afraid that, having visited the forums on a regular basis over the past few months, simply to see how you guys thought the album/interviews/promotion were going, I have decided to close them down," the message read.
Michael said he found it "really sad to see the forums so packed full of negative comment, and that so many genuinely positive fans find themselves defending me (or themselves) constantly against attack."
"There are plenty of places to read people slagging each other off, but I wasn't trying to create one in opening the forum.
"Those of you that want to carry on the media's work will have to do it somewhere else I suppose."
Michael is famously wary of the media, having been ridiculed over events such as his 1998 arrest in Los Angeles for lewd behaviour in a public toilet, which prompted the secretive star to finally acknowledge his homosexuality.
However some fans using the website on Thursday -- the chatroom will be closed down later this month -- were scathing.
"It's a fans' forum, it's freedom of speech and I don't think it's down to George to take his ball home and say 'I'm not playing any more'," one wrote.
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