Delta Goodrem handbag Brian McFadden has insisted his comment that homosexuals are not men on a New Zealand radio station were not “homophobic”.
In a statement to Sydney media the former Westlife singer said via his publicist that the comments should not be taken out of context.
“To come to the conclusion that I am homophobic from these sentences is far from the truth,” the statement read.
But gay groups and punters who listened to his comments via YouTube are not so sure.
In the interview, which centred on McFadden’s belief that men should not wear pink, the singer turned TV presenter said “no normal bloke” should “wear pink t-shirts”.
“Deliberately loving pink, wearing pink underwear, pink socks, pink shirts, pink anything – is wrong,” said the 28-year-old.
“If you are not gay, a man should not be wearing pink
Saying pink is a form of red is the same as saying homosexual is a form of male.”
But local gay activist, Robert Marshall, coordinator of Rainbow Youth condemned the comments.
“It’s the sort of stuff that gets said every day in the schoolyard. A lot of young people are quite impressionable, and when they see celebrities saying stuff like that, they think it’s OK to say it themselves,” he told GayNZ.com.
The gaffe is set to dent the squeaky-clean image of McFadden who, together with fiancée Delta Goodrem, is the darling of the insular Australian media.
The couple have, however, attracted criticism in other countries. Their relationship was subjected to intense scrutiny in the UK in 2004 after the tabloid press accused McFadden of being unfaithful to his then wife.
McFadden divorced his former partner, Kerry Katona, in 2006 after their 2002 marriage in Ireland. The couple have two young daughters together, aged five and seven. McFadden was voted best celebrity dad in 2002.
The furore is reminiscent of the controversy over radio legend John Laws, who was forced to placate Sydney’s powerful gay community by taking out full page ads in the gay press apologising for telling Carson Kressley to “piss off pansy”.
Video 'pink tags' added by LIVENEWS.com.au