EastEnders has defended its portrayal of homosexual issues after George Michael slammed the soap's storylines as 'insulting' to the gay community. The gay singer tweeted after Thursday night's episode, which saw Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) storming around to Christian Clarke's (John Partridge) home with a baseball bat after he was falsely accused of molesting schoolboy Ben Mitchell (Joshua Pascoe). "It's official... George Michael has had enough of EastEnders... Gay people deserve better than the BBC's pathetic attempts to 'represent' us", he wrote. "Message to gay kids in Britain. The East End of London is one of the best places on earth to be a modern gay man or couple. The relationship between Sayed [sic] and Christian is the most insulting piece of b****** on British television right now." He continued: "Insulting to the gay community, insulting to the Muslim community, and in the meantime, terrifying every gay child that is struggling to come to terms with their sexuality, and the prospect of coming out to their family, whatever their religion. So far, Christian has been beaten up three times that I can remember, and is now accused of child molestation." An EastEnders spokesperson told Digital Spy: "EastEnders reflects a wide range of issues, but they are always individual to characters in order to create drama. We are not claiming to be factually representative. "EastEnders viewers will know this is more a story about a tough character like Phil Mitchell struggling to come to terms with having a gay son."
