Tom Jones is under fire for his controversial comments on homosexuality, after he spoke of his past “paranoia” about working with gay men.
The Welsh-born singer, 75, looked back on his career in music and recalled his nerves about working with “homosexuals”. His comments provoked a backlash on Twitter, with Tom pleading with fans to bear in mind the historical “context”.
In an interview with The Big Issue, he said: “I was ready for most aspects of the music industry but when I met the producer Joe Meek, that threw me off a bit. Because he was a homosexual.
“I thought, wait a minute, is the London scene, the people who run British show business – are there a lot of homosexuals involved here? Because if so, I’m going back to Cardiff.”
According to Digital Spy, he continued: “When I signed with Decca and Peter Sullivan became my manager… he said the same thing Joe Meek said: ‘Tell the boys to pack their gear up, I want to talk to you myself.’
“I said: ‘You’re not one of these queer fellows are you?’ And he said: ‘What are you on about?’ I became paranoid, you see.”
The It’s Not Unusual singer added: “I wondered, was that required to make a hit record? But then I got into it and I realised no, it just so happened that the first guy to record me was a homosexual producer.
“Once I got over the shock of that, and realised it wasn’t true, most people were normal. Well, I shouldn’t put it like that. Homosexuals are normal, it’s not that they’re not normal. It’s just that they are what they are.”
The singer replied to criticism, urging fans to bear in mind that this took place in the context of the 50s and 60s.
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