The ‘George, Are You Gay?’ Hullabaloo

What’s the real story behind last weekend’s controversial interview that aired on Fox TV’s “The Reporters” show on KTTV Channel 11--and earned the show its highest ratings of the year?

Fox claims that the interview, which led off with the question, “George, are you gay?” was a rare example of that endangered species--a genuinely barbed, no-holds-barred look at a pop idol. But it has prompted a provocative series of questions that offers a fascinating glimpse behind the chatty facade of celebrity journalism:

Was Michael deliberately sandbagged by an unscrupulous reporter, as the pop star’s managers claim, who went on to blast Fox TV as a sleazy purveyor of trash-bag journalism?

Did Michael’s interviewer deliberately try to provoke a walk-out by the pop star, which could create more publicity for his story?

And did Michael’s management try to pressure Fox into killing the interview by threatening to have the pop star pull out of an upcoming Irvine Meadows benefit concert (whose organizer, John Walsh, hosts Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted” program)?

The warring parties agree on this much. “The Reporters,” one of Fox’s growing number of tabloid-style magazine-format programs, purchased the Michael interview from “60 Minutes,” an Australian tabloid-style TV show also owned by Fox media baron Rupert Murdoch.

However, Michael’s management claims that “60 Minutes” signed an agreement with the Aussie wing of CBS Records, Michael’s record label, promising the interview would air only in Australia. (A Fox spokesman here insisted no such agreement had been signed.)

“But what really made us angry was that the interview was so clearly a set-up,” said Michael manager Rob Kahane. “First off, that ’60 Minutes’ program is a video scandal sheet--the whole hook of the show is just like the London Sun or the National Enquirer. They gave us a list of questions they said they’d ask, but when we got to the interview they completely ignored the agreed-upon questions and went into the whole ‘gay’ business.

“My distinct feeling was that they wanted George to walk out on them so they could generate more publicity. In fact, I’m sure it was a set-up because the London Sun (also a Murdoch-owned paper) ran an article saying George had walked out of the interview--even though he didn’t!”

Kahane said “The Reporters” had no right to air the interview, which grabbed the Saturday night hourlong program its peak ratings (a 10 share, meaning 10% of all TVs on at the time were tuned in). “They wanted us to file an injunction or try to sue them. They want controversy--that’s how they promote the show. I know, for example, that they sent clips to MTV to help hype the program.”

(A spokeswoman for MTV confirmed that the video channel was sent clips by Fox, but said MTV didn’t air them. Fox execs also acknowledged faxing “about 50” transcripts of the interview to entertainment reporters before the show aired.)

However, a Fox spokesman said: “There was no conspiracy concerning the George Michael interview. ‘The Reporters’ had an opportunity to run an interesting interview with a major pop star--and decided to do so.”

It’s particularly ironic to see Kahane so peeved by Fox’s efforts to hype its program, since Michael’s management has an independent publicist and CBS publicity staffers working overtime pitching favorable stories and column items about the pop star.

However, Kahane insisted that he never threatened a Michael pullout from the benefit show, which funds the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center. “Fox was talking with us about getting involved in terms of a promotional tie-in with the concert,” he said. “So I told them that if they were going to run this piece of trash on their network and stab my artist in the back, then we didn’t want their name associated with our show in any way.”

Judging from recent press accounts of “The Reporters’ ” dubious methods, it’s hard not to give a certain credence to Kahane’s assessment of the show as a tacky TV tabloid. “The Reporters” was attacked last month after staging a re-enactment of the sexual assault and murder of a Tampa, Fla., woman--and airing a photo of her bloody body.

The woman’s outraged brother was quoted by the Washington Post as saying, “We were really misled and deceived into thinking this would be a sensitive portrayal of what it’s like to be a victim of a violent crime. Instead, it’s just another piece of sensationalist garbage.”

Fox’s response: “The Post account failed to mention that the show had extensive discussions with the victim’s family and did in fact tone down the segment significantly. It also ran the phone numbers of two victims assistance agencies.”

TUBE TUMULT: Did “The Reporters” segment really live up to all the huzzari? If you’re weary of the usual puffballs lobbed by TV celeb-interviewers, it was somehow refreshing to see a vaguely hot-blooded interview.

Conducted by Aussie reporter Jeff McMullen, who has the breathless air of Tony Franciosa’s character in “The Name of the Game,” the segment expended most of its energy probing Michael’s much-heralded sexuality. As for that opening “George, are you gay?” volley, Michael replied (or non-replied): “Uhm, I’ve never said, ‘No.’ I’ve never said, ‘Yes, no I’m not.’ In other words, I don’t think it benefits anyone listening to music to know whether or not I was in bed with a dog or a man or a woman last night.”

A true Murdoch tabloidian snoop, McMullen first offered scurrilous gossip, then jabbed, “Fact or fiction?” He confronted Michael with reports that he’d thrown up on a blonde and danced around a club fueled by a bottle of poppers. (All denied.)

The interview’s biggest revelation (outside of the fact that Michael only let the crew film the left side of his face) was the pop star’s confirmation that he’d used a “bottom-double” in his “I Want Your Sex” video.

Oddly enough, Michael otherwise emerged with dignity intact, projecting self-confidence, good-natured wit and a refreshing lack of pretense. Even when McMullen derisively read a series of lyrics from “Sex,” labeling them as “tasteless and trite,” Michael refused to do battle. “I don’t think it’s trite,” he said firmly. “It’s definitely an outstanding pop lyric. It’s going to be there in five, 10 years time.”

Love Trouble

When you see songs like “Shake Your Thang,” “Hot Stuff” and “I Want Your Hands on Me,” groping up the dance charts, you get a pretty good idea of what sort of hip-thrusting message pop music is sending. So it’s somehow refreshing to see the new dance single by Cruise Control hitting the charts with a different, blunt message--”No Condom, No Sex.” Distributed by Sire Records, the single is already a minor club hit. According to co-producer Randy Morrison, all profits will go to the Washington-based National AIDS Network. The song is accompanied by a Gary Weis-directed video that features cameo appearances by Katherine Oxenberg, Randy Quaid, Buck Henry, Richard Lewis, Julie Brown, Toni Basil and members of Fishbone. . . . It’s a double-shot for R.E.M. The band’s new album, “Green,” is due out Nov. 8 from Warners, while the band’s old label, I.R.S., has a hits collection scheduled for early October. Called “Eponymous,” it features the familiar faves plus new versions of “Finest Worksong,” “Gardening at Night” and a previously unreleased track titled “Romance.”

Son of Sam

Gonzo comic Sam Kinison enjoyed his celeb-rocker jam sessions at the Universal Amphitheatre so much last month that he’s ducked into the studio and cut a new version of “Wild Thing.” (Sample lyric: “Wild thing, you’re a lying, unfaithful, untrustable tramp . . . but I think I love you.”) The rendition of the frat-rock chestnut, which features Motley Crue’s Vince Neil and members of Whitesnake and Poison, will be on Kinison’s upcoming album, “Have You Seen Me Lately,” which features a pic of a skinny 16-year-old Kinison on the cover. Kinison shot a video of the song Tuesday night with Billy Idol, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Tommy Lee from Motley Crue, Slash from Guns N’ Roses and Jessica Hawn as “Wild Thing.” . . . Was Not Was’s new album offers such delightful fare as “Spy in the House of Love,” “Somewhere in America There’s a Street Named After My Dad” and “Walk the Dinosaur.” The record also offers a delightful ditty called “Wedding Vows in Vegas,” featuring vocals by Frank Sinatra Jr. (The group, which is coming off a pair of hit singles in England, plays the Whisky Oct. 4.) . . . Last month Pop Eye came to the defense of Oingo Boingo’s Danny Elfman, who blasted his old record label’s (A&M;) plans to release an Oingo Boingo compilation album, saying it would confuse fans since his new label, MCA, was releasing a collection of newly recorded oldies at the same time. The Boingo camp can now claim victory--A&M; has postponed release of its compilation till early next year, when it will come out in conjunction with a video collection. . . . But we’ll take the blame for botching the name of a stylish--and informative--new pop-culture outlet, Exposure magazine, which we erroneously referred to last week as Erasure. Our apologies.