This documentary on the pop star’s arrest for a ‘lewd act’ shows an era so breathtakingly homophobic that the shaming of gay men was a blood sport – and his response to it was one of absolute grace
Los Angeles, 9 April, 1998. Two days after George Michael is arrested by an undercover police officer for performing a “lewd act” in a Beverly Hills public toilet. His cousin, Andros Georgiou, rushes from London to be by his side. Outside Michael’s house, more than 50 international camera crews are gathered. There are helicopters overhead; paparazzi everywhere. Georgiou circles the block trying to phone his cousin. Finally Michael answers and apologises for not picking up. He was blow-drying his hair. One of many details in George Michael: Outed that made me love him even more than I did as a screaming teenage girl. Which is a lot.
Inside, Michael explains to his people that he, as Georgiou puts it, “had a few glasses, got a bit horny, and fancied a bit of sex”. Hardly the stuff of the scandal of the decade, but these were viciously homophobic times, as the first episode of this two-part documentary barely needs to reminds us. The tabloids were king, and outing people in the public sphere became a national blood sport. Which is the true scandal of this story. If Outed had a hysteria-inducing headline it might be “Tabloid’s Shame”.
