Gordon in the morning: Hospital visits

Pneumonia is obviously serious. The Sun runs a piece which does its best to stick to the request from George Michael's publicist:

The singer's publicist Connie Filippello said: "George Michael is ill with pneumonia and any other speculation regarding his illness is unfounded and untrue."

And, to be fair to the three journalists tasked to write the story:

STEPHEN MOYES and NEIL SYSON in Austria and EMMA LITTLE, Health Editor

they don't actually speculate that it's anything other than pneumonia. But they speculate a lot about what treatment he might be getting, and Sun Doctor Carol Cooper is wheeled in to speculate on the prognosis.

However, the Sun doesn't even need to nudge and wink. The readers know there's only one possible reason a gay man would be in hospital, right?

jagucat

Not wishing to draw parallels here but didn't Freddie Mercury make an announcement similar to this in 1992? Brilliant musical talent but dodgy choice of recreational pastime.

For someone not wishing to draw a parallel, you do seem to have somehow drawn one, jagucat.

Surprising to hear "being gay" described as a "recreational pastime", by the way. Maybe Kirstie Allsopp will be seen doing it competitively in a county show before the end of her current crafting series.

Elsewhere in Gordon's kingdom, someone watched Gary Barlow on Loose Women yesterday:

X FACTOR judge Gary Barlow insists he never intended to take over Simon Cowell's "Mr Nasty" character.

Poor Gary; after years of being thought a nice-but-dull bloke, he's now trying to get that image back. Trouble is, however much Barlow might now try to pretend it never happened, it's impossible to forget that the publicity for the start of the current X Factor run did, erm, pitch him as taking over Cowell's role:

The Radio Times interview pitched a man who was relishing being disliked:

Gary Barlow is happy to play the hard man. Unpopular, me? Bring it on, he says. The day we meet The Sun has reported that The X Factor audience booed him and an elderly X Factor contestant felt humiliated when he rifled through her bag.

“Oh I’ve upset a lot of people, most of all the audiences, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve spent 20 years being cheered and screamed after, but being booed is actually quite addictive.”
He grins. The truth is that however hard he tries to antagonise, the audience appears to love him.

Now, maybe he never wanted to be that person, but he certainly was happy to go along with the marketing that cast him in that role.