Gordon in the morning: Filling out

George Michael has cancelled some European dates, as he's got pneumonia. Not that that's bothering Gordon, mind. He's got a bigger story:

George was also embarrassed when photos taken by fans during his one London concert showed him with a sagging belly. There was no sign of his paunch in the official snaps.

Just in case you've missed his subtle point, he prints a picture of the young Michael wearing his tight white swimming trunks. Yes, you remember. Oh, yes...

... uh, sorry... where were we? Ah, yes. Smart runs a big photo of the small trunks with this caption:

Young gun ... George Michael looking slim during Wham's heyday in the '80s

Yes, Gordon. It was thirty years ago. Of course he'd be a bit slimmer then.

Still, given his metabolism slowing down seems to worry you so much, Gord, keep your fingers crossed: pneumonia can cause weight loss. Perhaps you'll get your slimline George back in the next few days.

PETA turn to random abuse, lose support

Peta are known for doing some dumb stunts, but now it's starting to look like they've just decided to take on everyone who isn't, like, you know, one of them. They have just run some ads in Orlando which call larger people "whales".

The poster features the back of an overweight woman and has the slogan "Save the whales - Lose the blubber - go vegetarian". That would seem to be making a pretty strong whale-person link, right?

"It appears you are implying that overweight people are like whales," WJXT-TV reporter Scott Johnson said to a PETA representative.

"Not at all," said Ashley Byrne, of PETA. "It's just a way of grabbing people's attention. It's just a provocative way to grab attention."

So putting a photo of a fatter person next to a big slogan saying "save the whales" isn't comparing a person to a big, blubbery whale, it's just being "provocative"? But isn't it being provocative because it's insensitively hurling abuse at fat people? And if it isn't hurling abuse, then how would it be being provocative?

Oh and... what is the point of being provocative just for the sake of it? What is there to respect in an organisation which is happy to run sexy pictures of slim people (like every fashion product ever), and now run photos having a go at the overweight (like diet product ads) , and yet thinks its in some way progressive?

Is it really helpful in the culture we're stuck in for an animal charity to encourage bullying of fat people?

And - come to that - if being overweight is such a terrible thing, and animals are so great, what's with the using "whale" as a term of abuse? Or is the poster suggesting that being overweight puts you on a par with one of nature's majestic giants? Or is it not even fully thought through?

The adverts have provoked some reaction though - and this, by the way, is where we get onto the music connection in this story. It's provoked Tegan And Sara to revoke their support for PETA. They just tweeted:

feeling a bit ashamed that we ever supported PETA. They should be ashamed over this.

The time to really have felt ashamed about supporting PETA, though, was when it started to emerge that, while they're very good at getting people to prance about in the nack to promote them, they're actually shit at caring for animals, and killed 95% of the animals they were 'caring' for last year.

Thinking thins over

According to Sky News, the world has spoken of little lately, save for Courtney Love's weight:

Courtney Love's weight loss has recently provoked headlines.

Recent pics of the gaunt star shocked fans the world over.

Betserai Gonorashe, chair of the Zimbabwean chapter of the Courtney Love fanclub, confirms that the shock was felt "the world over". "Yes, it's true - we were shocked. It might be thought that the only real reaction to the photos was felt in newspaper and magazine offices in London and New York, and that the reaction was 'oh, good, that's the pages where we hector women about being totally the wrong weight filled for this week, then', but no. Like our sister chapters in Santiago, Manilla and Chepstow. They were equally shocked. The guys in Vladivostok said they saw it coming, but they're full of it."

Anyway, Courtney has now joined in:

Now Courtney herself has spoken out about her weight.

Has she "spoken out"? Or has she merely spoken about it?

"I know I've got too skinny.

"I know those pictures of me are going everywhere. I know I need to sort it out."

It turns that her doctor has suggested she's malnourished - I'm expecting a blog post accusing Ryan Adams of stealing her yoghurts from the fridge by sundown.

Adele's tangled web

To be honest, we don't think Adele has ever said that she won't lose weight, ever - although her comments about her body shape tend to get reported as if that's what she's said, if you read what she actually said was she wouldn't lose weight because other people tell her she should:

'The press are always trying to bring it up,' she says, regarding me balefully, 'but I really don't give a toss. If I wanted to be on the cover of FHM, then of course I'd be, like, fuck, I need to lose weight or, I need some fake tan or I need to get my teeth fixed. But I'd rather be on the cover of Q for my music.'

Likewise, although Zoe Zoe Showbiz in today's Sunday Mirror heads her story:

Adele wants to lose weight before heading to America

Adele is shortly heading off to the States - so has decided to slim.

the only quote Zoe offers suggests that, actually, all that's happened is Adele is drinking less and the weightloss is a side-effect:

"I haven't had a drink for 20 days and I've noticed the effect."

Which isn't quite the same thing as obsessively slimming in order to please the Americans.