It was not a Careless Whisper but careless driving that earned recently imprisoned singer George Michael a place on the TellYouGov leaderboard this week.
The pop sensation’s volume score currently stands at 274, (up 10 points in the past 24 hours) while his sentiment score is the lowest on the board at -189, with many users expressing their disapproval at the drug use that saw Michael, real name Georgios Panayiotou, relegated to the cells.
‘Not again’
Michael began a two month jail sentence on Tuesday for driving under the influence of drugs, after he crashed his car into a London branch of photo chain Snappy Snaps after using cannabis. The imprisonment marks the most recent of a series of brushes with the law for drugs related charges, causing one user, or tygger, to bemoan ‘oh no... not again’. In 2006 and 2008, Michael was cautioned for possession of drugs, and in 2007 was banned from driving for two years and also made to do community service as a result of numerous drugs offences. This most recent offence took place in the early hours of the morning as Michael was driving home from London’s Gay Pride parade.
Cash conviction?
Many comments, or 'tygs', support the prison sentence awarded to the singer, saying that ‘he deserves jail’ and it’s ‘about time’ that he is punished for his wrongdoings. A large number of tyggers think that the eight week sentence, of which Michael will allegedly only serve half, should have been longer, saying that the time frame was ‘lenient’ and ‘ridiculous’. ‘Clearly money talks!’ commented one cynical tygger. (Indeed, Michael is certainly not short of cash, being estimated to have a fortune of £90million by the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List.)
Others appear more angered by George’s attitude to the law than the offence itself. ‘Money doesn’t mean you’re above the law,’ observed one, while others described the singer as ‘a big head who thinks the law doesn’t apply to him’ and ‘a spoilt rich kid grown up into a spoilt rich man’.
Some respondents commented that given the star’s high profile and wealth, the prison sentence will do ‘no long term harm’. One even suggested that ‘a five year ban from the public eye’ would be a more effective punishment.
Gotta have Faith
Despite the charges, it appears that some do still have Faith in the award winning singer. While one said ‘I think he has a fantastic voice’, another showed their support by saying they hope ‘he gets some decent rehab’ and that prison ‘acts as wake up call for his addiction’. One was especially supportive, hoping ‘he finds…a way to live comfortably in his skin without chemicals’.
But as people begin to tire of the singer’s ‘late night antics’, with one asking ‘why are we interested in this nonentity?’, and his TellYouGov sentiment score continuing to slide, perhaps the sun is finally going down on this crooner’s career.
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