Tag Archives: Jan Moir

Jan Moir On Stephen Gately’s Death – Agree Or Disagree?

Stephen Gately hasn’t been dead a week yet, but already people are huffing and puffing over the fact that his death appeared somewhat suspicious, and after Jan Moir seems to have angered half of Ireland with her article in The Daily Mail, it would be interesting to know what you think.

Twitter seems to be alive with people condemning Jan Moir’s article in The Daily Mail, as she writes; “All the official reports point to a natural death, with no suspicious circumstances. The Gately family are – perhaps understandably – keen to register their boy’s demise on the national consciousness as nothing more than a tragic accident.”

The thing is, why is it any of our business what went on during that night, we can make assumptions until the cows come home if we like, but the only people who really know what happened that night are Georgi Dochev and Andrew Cowles.

Stephen Gately and Andrew Cowles

Whilst we can poke the finger at the fact that Stephen and Andrew brought a man back to their apartment, would we have been writing about the news had Stephen still been alive? Probably not, so I don’t see how this could factor into the equation at all.

After The Sun reported that Georgi’s police statement said; ”Once at the residence, they were talking and they became intimate, until 5.30am.” it would appear that the guys had come home, carried on drinking and had a good time.

Had this been a same sex ‘threesome’ would we have still been ‘shocked’? I hope not, because this is the 21st century, and if we can’t handle gay threesomes, then I am pretty sure blokes should stop fantasising about sex with two women, because isn’t that still having a ‘gay’ encounter? Or do we look over that fact?

I think the problem here is that Jan Moir used phrases such as “And I think if we are going to be honest, we would have to admit that the circumstances surrounding his death are more than a little sleazy.” and “It is not disrespectful to assume that a game of canasta with 25-year-old Georgi Dochev was not what was on the cards.”

Yet, had Jan written this article about Katie Price and her new boyfriend Alex Reid bringing another man or woman back home with then after a night out, would we have all had a laugh at Katie’s expense and slapped it across the papers the next day?

Stephen Gately of Boyzone attends the UK Premiere of 'Up' on October 4, 2009 in London, England.

The main problem here is the way in which Jan Moir has put her opinion across, after all, we are entitled to share our opinion are we not? Good or bad, everyone has the right to say what they think. Perhaps a Daily Mail journalist should think twice before branding the dead popstar the “Posh Spice of Boyzone, a popular but largely decorous addition.” or describing him as “the group’s co-lead singer, even though he could barely carry a tune in a Louis Vuitton trunk.”

Yet, the fact that Jan points out that it does seem odd that Stephen – an otherwise healthy young man – died whilst asleep on the sofa, is something I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve found it hard to get my head around.

I mean, I just can’t believe that someone so young, could just die, just like that. And whilst we can ramble on and on about the presence of another man, the smoking of cannabis and the fact that *shock horror* he was gay; the family and the coroner have said that Stephen died of natural causes, and so we should respect his memory and let it rest. Right?

The point here is, whatever Stephen had been doing that night, it appeared to be consensual, and it is not for us to assume what went on behind closed doors, whilst we would all wish to know the truth, the family want us to believe that Stephen died from ‘natural causes’ and out of respect, shouldn’t we abide by that, regardless of what we might think?

Please share your opinions with me, I am keen to hear what you think of the Jan Moir article and whether or not you believe there to be more to the Stephen Gately story that meets the eye?