14 DAY TRIAL // Yet another coach on NBC’s The Voice is making waves after tweeting what some have interpreted as a very homophobic remark. Cee Lo Green got into a verbal spat of sorts with a reviewer and ended up calling her “gay.”
Us Magazine says it all started over one reviewer’s take on one of Green’s most recent performances, with the star taking to Twitter to vent.
Andrea Swensson gave a thumbs down to Green’s Thursday performance at the Target Center in Minneapolis, and he didn’t care for it, saying it wasn’t fair – and implying that Swensson was biased because of her orientation.
“I respect your criticism, but be fair! People enjoyed last night! I’m guessing you’re gay? And my masculinity offended you? Well [expletive] you!” Green wrote on Twitter.
Shortly after, he came under fire for the apparently homophobic tweet, which he also deleted since then.
In a statement to Us, the singer says he meant that as a joke and that he erroneously assumed everyone else would know that he was not serious about it.
He didn’t even know that the reviewer was a woman, the singer adds in his defense.
“She was very critical of me. At the time I didn’t even know what gender the person was. I was being a little outspoken that night, a little outrageous,” Cee Lo explains.
“I always expect people to assume that everything I do is part of my character and sense of humor. I assumed that whoever it was would assume it was all in good fun. It wasn’t taken so well, apparently,” he adds.
Cee Lo believes he should – and does – apologize for his choice of words, but not for defending the performance or for speaking his mind. He sticks to the idea that the show was great.
“I most certainly am not harboring any sort of negative feeling toward the gay community. […] I’m one of the most liberal artists that I think you will ever meet, and I pride myself on that,” Green adds.