Newsweek picks on Clay Aiken

Newsweek columnist Ramin Setoodeh writes:

In a People magazine cover story this week, Aiken confesses what the rest of the country has suspected since he debuted on "American Idol" in 2003, when he claimed, "I don't really hide much." Clay Aiken is gay. ...

Aiken's coming out was met with widespread applause—GLAAD was among the first to congratulate him this morning. But why should Aiken deserve to be praised for coming out at the age of 29? You could say that a person's sexuality is nobody's business. But unlike other gay celebrities who have come out recently, like Neil Patrick Harris or Lance Bass, Aiken denied that he was gay long beyond the point of ridiculousness, and he did it in a way that bordered on homophobic. When the Advocate asked him if he was gay during an "American Idol" press conference, he simply turned the other way, as if he never heard the question. ...

The denials only made Aiken a bigger target in interviews, and it was mostly his own fault. ... Plus, Aiken got his start on what's arguably the gayest show on TV—"American Idol."

Newsweek disgusts me. Aiken's private sex life is none of anyone's business.