Cee Lo Green apologizes for ‘ur gay’ Tweet
Singer Cee Lo Green set off gay alarms recently when he sent out a Tweet that appeared to some to be “homophobic.” He opened for Rhianna’s concert in Minneapolis, MN on Friday. An entertainment blogger named Andrea Swensson reviewed his performance. She called it “ho-hum,” “lackluster,” and “flubbed.” Green responded to Swensson with a public post to Twitter (CityPages.com):
@gimme_noise I respect your criticism but be fair! People enjoyed last night!I’m guessing ur gay?and my masculinity offended u?well f—k U!
As criticism of his words grew he Tweeted an apology to the gay community asking, “what was homophobic about that?” Both comments were then deleted from his account. And he said, “I’m not tweeting again.”
Mr. Green explained his actions to UsMagazine.com saying he would take it back, but that he shouldn’t have to apologize for his words and performance either:
“She was very critical of me. At the time I didn’t even know what gender the person was. I was being a little outspoken that night, a little outrageous…. I most certainly am not harboring any sort of negative feeling toward the gay community…. I’m one of the most liberal artists that I think you will ever meet…. Two of the remaining members that I have on my team on The Voice are proud and outspokenly gay.”
Cee Lo Green is a coach on NBC’s The Voice, and SheWired.com has an interview with contestant Vicci Martinez, who said:
”It’s too bad sometimes that everything is so accessible. You just don’t even get the time to maybe think about it a little bit. I think that’s maybe what happened, because Cee Lo just loves the crap out of me and Nakia [a gay male contestant on Cee Lo’s team]. And right away, he messaged us and was like, “I just want you guys to know that this just came out and that’s not how I feel. They are totally messing it up, blowing it up, and I just want to apologize to you guys first.”
Green’s Twitter-driven controversy follows a separate incident where fellow Voice coach, Blake Shelton, was thought by some to have made a homophobic Tweet this past May. Shelton said his “man that tries touching my behind” was meant to be from the perspective of Shania Twain.
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