Twitterstorm a’brewing
A storm of complaints has brewed online thanks to Charlie Brooker, Stephen Fry and our own Mr Brown. Over 800 people contacted the Press Complaints Commission about a rather foot-in-mouth article published by Jan Moir of the Daily Mail.
The article comparing Stephen Gately’s death to “nothing more than an unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend, like a broken teacup in the rented cottage” alarmed more than a few people. Continuing, it seemed to express that the death was likely to be suspicious, despite the coroner’s report stating otherwise, because of Gateley’s sexuality.
In a later rebuke Moir said “Some people, particularly in the gay community, have been upset by my article about the sad death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately. This was never my intention,”
“In what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones,” Moir added.
The PCC have said it will only launch an investigation if it receives a complaint from Gately’s family. The Mail have changed the article’s headline from ‘Why there was nothing ‘natural’ about Stephen Gately’s death’ to ‘A strange, lonely and troubling death…’.
Charlie Brooker has called for people to be sensible on the matter; “Unchecked hysteria helps nobody. Let’s all have a lovely peaceful evening, no matter how annoyed” after Moir’s home address began appearing online.
You can read Brooker’s article here and read Moir’s apology here
I actually spat my drink out when I read this article. It’s utter, utter madness.
What a DIM woman. It’s beyond words…
the guy obviously is homophobic and as such, scum. Don’t expect any less from his hate filled rag of a newspaper
What a wanker !!!!
I was one of those 800 complaints – where do people get off with what they say about peoples’ deaths? Her article was nothing but alot of fabricated lies without any truth .to the degree of slander ( added that to my complaint!!!)
Maybe she should look a bit closer to home before writing what she thinks – as it is offensive not only to the gay community ( I am not personally gay) but anyone who has had someone close to them die… how would she like it if we fabricated stories about her close family ?
Its not on and an apology – whatever – its been said now !!!
I read it online. Utter tripe.
Who reads that crap anyway?
An ‘unfortunate mis-hap on a holiday weekend’ is stubbing your toe on the furniture in the middle of the night… probably by being disoriented – or a wee bit djunk. I’m not really a Boyzone / Stephen Gately fan but the event was tragic and my thoughts go out to his family, partner and friends.
Insensitive woman… what a noddy.
The woman is clearly an idiot.
is it SPKO?
stupid people kicking off?
All I can think is just how narrow minded this woman must be, and if that was an appolgy she gave, I’d love to see her appologise face to face to any of stephen Gately’s family she’s offended!! AAArrrgghh, Irritation overload!!! Insensitive, shocking and needless. If that’s what she thinks makes good journalism, then I’d love to ask her boss what he thought he was thinking!! Surely she must have realised that would stir people up, not to mention The Gay Rights Campain! It’s nothing more than outraged sensationalised trash that most papers supply these days anyway!! I don’t know what she expected..Thoughts to his poor family and friends.
Sit back and watch the homophobe squirm.
Of course, it goes without saying that the PCCs refusal to look into the matter unless the family actually complains has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the PPC Chairman is Paul Dacre, (Daily Mail editor).
Heartening to watch the uniform expression of utter disgust at the article throughout the day. So THAT’S what this Twitter thing is for.
Top marks to Charlie for a speedy and excellent article. I sincerely hope Jan Moir won’t be allowed to get away with her pathetic and insulting response.
I am a fan of Stephen and Boyzone and found her story to be utter crap! To say that about the man before he is even in his grave is a disgrace! Some people need to learn to think about others before opening their mouths and letting their random thoughts spill out.
unbelivable!!!!! sorry where on earth does this woman live – not in the real world that is for sure.
Yes he was gay but so what??? doesn’t mean he has to die in any sort of sex game!!!!!
gay people can die normally !!!!! good grief what a zealot!!!! honestly everyone should refuse to read this paper again – they obviously don’t give a stuff about his family and friends and especially his heartbroken partner.
Her demflatory unthinking remarks have no doubt caused more suffering to everyone who cared about him.
an apology? has she personally apologied to his family / friends / partner????? i think not!
wot a c*** and i use that word
For one of the first times in my life I’m speechless. Not only can I not begin to figure out what sort of a sick mind could write such a tasteless piece, I also don’t want to know. It would be a very dark and disturbing place.
Her article made my blood boil. She is a complete idiot. Then again, she writes for the Daily Mail, so we all knew that anyway.
“Moir has issued an apology†— that was no apology, it was a statement that no apology was called for.
@Rory
“Who reads that crap anyway?”
Depressingly, about 2 million people do. 🙁
“In what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones,†Moir added.
WTF1, she obviously doesn’t understand Twitter. ‘Heavily Orchestrated’, in minutes?? Sorry Ms Moir, disgust doesn’t need any orchestrating. If your article wasn’t highly offensive then it would have gone nowhere!
WTF2, in the final paragraph she directly links the deaths of both Stephen Gately, Matt Lucas’s ex-partner and the fact they were all in Civil Partnerships. If she think’s there nothing wrong with that I shudder to think we she does consider homophobic!
Shocking, horrifc take on this tragic, heartbreaking death of such a sweet, innocent man. Social conformity has no baring on such a death and yet some still fail to see this, just for the sake of media. Fluid on the lungs does not happen because you’re gay and for those who think that’s a good front page story need to take a long hard look at their future in media. Just remember, if this wasn’t someone of high social status, half the fuss over his personal life would not even be mentioned! Very badly done!! Thoughts to Stephen Gately’s partner, family and Bandmates.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1220756/A-strange-lonely-troubling-death–.html#ixzz0U7LgbBQq
“The article comparing Stephen Gately’s death to “nothing more than an unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend, like a broken teacup in the rented cottage†alarmed more than a few people.”
– sorry Derren, it didn’t, she said the story had been spun into nothing more than an unfortunate mishap, she was making the point the rather sordid facts of the story had been overlooked (ie a married couple picking up a man 10yrs younger and bringing back to their flat).
It is a horrid piece of journalism, by a horrid woman in a horrid paper, but don’t respond with inaccuracies. Whole thing feeling like a witch hunt (even though she clearly is a witch)
That’s a laugh… A Daily Mail “journalist” complaining about unchecked hysteria!! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc
Its most unlike the daily mail. Their pieces are usually so well considered.
the article made me very mad!!!!!the cunt of a women ……sorry for that but god it made me mad still does…..Anyway thank you derren and mr fry for info 🙂 im going to cool it now you all take care as always em
Totally, she is will regret saying all that now! TWAT!!! 🙂
If you read it properly is says that the death of Stephen has been spun to make it seem like it is nothing but a broken teacup…
‘Something is terribly wrong with the way this incident has been shaped and spun into nothing more than an unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend, like a broken teacup in the rented cottage. ‘
She isnt saying she thinks its nothing more than an unfortunate incident. ?
Jan Moir is just an abhorrent moron.
Props to you, Charlie and Stephen, though. His article’s brilliant.
I expressed my contempt for that article on the Daily Mail’s website, for whatever good that does (little, I suspect).
After reading their website I actually felt like I needed a good wash.
“I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones,” claims Moir. This is clearly the lesser known meaning of the word mischievous, where it is synonymous with sickeningly obvious.
Daily Mail homophobic you say? pretty surprising, that.
people so often get railed for speaking the truth,or at least their opinion/notion of the truth.
if this had been said by john jones or dave brown,nobody would have blinked,but because messers brown,Brooker and Fry have gained something of a name for thenselves,with the two of them especially,within the gay community,handbags are at the ready..scratching and bitch slapping may commence if everyone just doesn’t get a nice cup of tea right away
I reckon that everyone should just stop reading the newspapers…I did a long time ago, it is a waste of money and energy and 99% of it is not “news” it is gossip written in such a way as to get a mass reaction. Perhaps there are too many lonely sad journalists out there trying to get their name out by using shock tactics.
Most stories no matter how big or small are most of the time blown out of proportion, the media are like vultures jumping on the slightest bit of news they can get their claws into and will name, shame and embarrass anyone to try and get a bit of attention. They are the lowest of the low….
She clearly put 2 and 2 together and came up with 5. Seriously, how insensitive can one get? And her reiteration was literally giving everyone the finger for her unashamed stupidity.
I met Stephen many times over the years and several of my friends were good friends of his having grown up with him. He was most definitely not a party animal who lived a hedonistic lifestyle. He was the only member of Boyzone I have never seen drunk and he dedicated a HUGE amount of time to charity work. This article was disgusting. It greatly upset a lot of my friends and the damage to the gay community caused by pieces like this is phenomonal. It is actually a point of law that you can’t libel the dead so Ms Moir knew that she could write what she liked without worrying about being sued over the articles content. It was a horrific piece.
No, she’s saying much worse, Marie. She’s saying the family and press have turned his death into nothing more than a broken tea cup by saying his death was natural. Moir obviously knows better than a coroner or the family. It can’t be ‘natural’ because he’s a gay and therefore it has to be a seedy death of debauchery. I mean, he’s gay, gays don’t die like us hetros. They shouldn’t marry either because it all goes wrong when they try it. They get married and then they die. Moir is protecting the gay community.
You’re right Marie, the ‘unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend’ quote is taken out of context but it doesn’t excuse the rest of the vile, homophobic short sighted shite she spewed. What a desperate attempt for copy. I’m gay and whilst her ‘myth of happy-ever-after civil partnerships’ bit offended me the most, I’m certain I’d be just as disgusted if I was straight. And I don’t get offended that easy! x
I read this article this morning and I couldn’t believe it either. What the hell was she thinking? And more to the point, why didn’t the editor ask her to remove the portions that breached the code before publication? I wouldn’t stoop as low as the Daily Mail by demanding her head on a platter, but she deserves to be sacked and should never work in journalism again.
Contemptable poison. That’s all the Daily Mail has to offer us. I’m surprised the rats at the Scum newspaper haven’t jumped on the bandwagon.
Moir did not compare Gately’s death to “an unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend, like breaking a teacup in the rented cottage.”
She said that’s how the media made it sound.
Her own analysis was far less innocuous and far more vile.
An odious article by a vile Glenda Slagg cunt, made worse by the kind of sneering non-apology more usually associated with the larcenous den of rapscallions in Westminster. Fine piece by Charlie Brooker, as usual.
Has anyone warned Robbie, Amy, Kate, Whitney & Britney about their sudden endings? Jinxed Jan has surely foretold their future…..
Can they sue for such a damning prediction ? 😉
“In what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones,†Moir added.
What an unbelievably arrogant statement. To explicitly state that the people who have complained are part of a “heavily orchestrated campaign” says more about Moir’s contempt for the feelings of others than it does about the genuine concern & outrage expressed by those who take exception to her article.
Her statement merely consolidates her homophobia by suggesting that those who have complained are militant gay lobbyists.
Jan Moir – what a sad pathetic woman. I’d like to say I feel sorry for her,but I don’t. I hope the vile spitefull woman gets the sack and has to live in the gutter licking rats for a living.
Paul B xx
she can’t think she was right can she? she cannot be truly dumb. if even in the face of so many people reading it and being appalled she still can’t see it……i don’t know. i was a young tenager when SG came out and people thought my generation would take it badly and stop buying thier music and we didn’t (just because hes gay dosen’t mean hes not cute) and some people use that as an example of the change in our society. but then i guess she is an out of touch old bat.
This is just par for the course for the Daily Mail, which could imply doing doing nothing but they operate under cloak of supposed respectability so enough people complaining WILL have an effect.
I have lodged my complain to the PCC – suggest all do.
While I agree that her article was ridiculous, it makes me wonder, why on earth would someone choose, out of all the many available tabloids and broadsheets, to read the Daily Mail?
This is just one of many ridiculous articles that I have seen gracing their website and newspaper recently. Hopefully this will help direct a few former readers elsewhere 🙂
completely agree that everything she wrote was ridiculous/evil but above you write “The article comparing Stephen Gately’s death to “nothing more than an unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend, like a broken teacup in the rented cottage†alarmed more than a few people.”.
Was it not comparing the REACTION to his death to a broken teacup rather than his death itself? Doesn’t really matter in the big picture but just thought I’d say before the evil bitch used that in her ammo too.
kat said “people so often get railed for speaking the truth,or at least their opinion/notion of the truth.
if this had been said by john jones or dave brown,nobody would have blinked,but because messers brown,Brooker and Fry have gained something of a name for thenselves,with the two of them especially,within the gay community”
You assume that those people who take offence to Moir’s article do so because Stephen Fry & Derren Brown did, as if it were an internet bandwagon. In fact I read the article BEFORE I read the subsequent furore & was no more disgusted by it after learning that others felt the same. You are an apologist for bigotry.
Disgusting article, and for my money, a disgusting ‘apology’ too……
LC x
………………..oh sorry to the 50 people before me who practically wrote the same.
What an utterly disgusting article. I’m glad everyone is turning against her. There was just no need to be so horrible about anybody, especially somebody as gentle and kind as Stephen was.
I’ve been a Boyzone fan for years, and and her article is very hurtful and upsetting. Just imagine how Stephen’s family and the rest of the Boyz feel about it all… it’s the last thing they need at the moment.
I thought her piece was an attempt at humour at first. C’mon! ‘Death by gay’?! Hilarious! Regardless of her homophobic attitude, she seems to rather clumsily raise a valid point that this young man is only getting this amount of press because he was a bit famous and the details have the potential to be sordid. I have had three close friends die — younger and older — and all they got was a couple of inches in a local paper. I cared deeply about them, but I can’t feel much in comparison for someone I don’t know. Yes, any untimely death’s a tragedy and yes, it is devastating for his friends and family but why should I care? Why all this fuss?
who wants to follow @Janmoir_uk on twitter anyone? thought not.