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George Michael defends performing new single at Olympics closing ceremony
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 15 August 2012
George Michael came in for some criticism after he followed a brilliant performance of his song ‘Freedom’ at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday with a run through his new single ‘White Light’.
Defending the decision on Twitter yesterday, Michael said: “Had a GREAT time at the closing! I hope you are not bothered by the press reports of my scandalous ‘promotion’! Please join me in telling them to fuck off! It was my one chance on TV to thank you all for your loyalty and prayers, and I took it”.
By putting ‘promotion’ in inverted commas there, presumably Michael doesn’t consider performing a brand new song at the big Olympics closer a promotional endeavour – though the marketing machine behind the track certainly whirred into action as soon as he’d finished. And it particularly stood out in a show largely consisting of artists performing older hits (which Michael had already done, of course).
I’m also not sure that it’s fair to say it was only members of the press who thought it was a bit odd – Twitter would suggest lots of punters were a bit confused by the inclusion of a new song too.
