LONDON – Britain’s press watchdog says it has received a record 21,000 complaints about a newspaper column on the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately after critics used Twitter to brand the article homophobic and insensitive.
Gately died Oct. 10, aged 33, while vacationing on the Spanish island of Mallorca. An autopsy found he had died of natural causes from fluid in the lungs.
Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir wrote that Gately’s death was “not, by any yardstick, a natural one” and said he died in “sleazy” circumstances.
The Press Complaints Commission said Monday it had received “by far the highest number of complaints” in its history.
Gately Column Sparks Twitter Outrage
October 21, 2009
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