Over the past several weeks, a survey was conducted on this site. The response to the survey was overwhelming! 60 people took part. Almost every single survey returned was positive towards the web page and the survey, though there were a handful of negative remarks. A few said the survey was “stupid” (but filled it out anyway); one person said fans shouldn’t be obsessing on the relationship, but rather on the music. I would remind you that both George and Jon themselves have said that the relationship *was* the backbone of Culture Club. The music was the soundtrack of the relationship, and you can’t separate it from Culture Club. Those who don’t want to talk about it might want to examine their own homophobia.
Anyway, onto the results of this thing---
Question 1: Does George still love Jon? (You may answer “Yes,” “No,” “Yes, but he’s not attracted to him anymore,” or “Who knows?”)
Results: Landslide. Only 3 people answered “no.” Virtually everyone else answered either “Yes” (almost half of the votes) or “Yes, but he’s not attracted to him anymore.” (almost the other half of the votes). A handful said they didn’t know. I would remark that everyone who I watched the two VH1 Behind the Music specials with concurred with the majority of respondents here. Some survey respondents said I should have included a question asking whether Jon still loves George.
Someone else commented, “George will always love Jon and he still is attracted to him (you can see it on the "vh-1storytellers"concert.”)
Another comment: “I think George & Jon are still in love with each other. How they act toward each other: their subtle about the small things they do. Like flowers and when George laughs.”
Someone else remarked, “You can tell on the Behind the Music Culture Club reunion one, when George talks about the fact that Jon sent him flowers before the tour. Just look at the look on George’s face and in his eyes, and I rest my case.”
Question 2: What is your take on Jon’s sexual orientation? (You may answer, “He’s straight as he says he is---his relationship with George was a phase or aberration,” “He’s gay and in deep denial,” “He’s bisexual but calls himself straight to avoid the stigma,” “Sexuality is a continuum; people don’t all fall into neat categories of “gay” and “straight””, or “Who knows?”)
Results: The most common answer was the continuum one (with about one-third of respondents voting for it.) People seem to recognize that there are people who cannot easily be classified as gay or straight. The second most common response was that he is bisexual, with just under one-third answering this way. (One reader commented, “In my book, if you are capable of falling in love with a man and later on with a woman, you’re bisexual. Why does everyone avoid this label?”)
Much less common were the responses, “He’s straight as he says he is---his relationship with George was a phase or aberration” (only 4 votes) and “He’s gay and in deep denial.” (6 votes.)
7 didn’t know.
Some other comments made here include, “I’m tired of some George fans ripping on Jon. Sure, Jon did some nasty things. But he is only human, and I daresay all of us have done some awful things in our lives. If you read George’s book, you’d see that George admits he himself did some mean things to Jon too. The important thing is that George forgave him and Jon’s come clean in recent interviews.” Along this same theme, someone else said, “I think people bash Jon because they’re jealous that he had something most fans could only fantasize about.”
For the record, in recent interviews for MTV and MyLaunch (see the More About Jon section of this page), Jon does now identify as straight, but he is now comfortably discussing his relationship with George and openly admitting that he once loved him.
Question 3: Why did their relationship fail? (You could answer, “Immaturity/insecurity (on both men’s parts)”, “Passionate romances don’t last,” “Jon’s/society’s homophobia,” “They were incompatible,” or “Who knows?”)
Results: By far, the most popular answer was “Immaturity/insecurity (on both men’s parts)”, with 27 votes. As one person commented, “Anyone who’s read George’s biography can see that both he and Jon had a lot of growing up to do at the time they first got together.”
Another observed, “I agree with you about the sexual continuum, but this seems to have been a (strange & wonderful) one-off for Jon. In re-reading George's biog., I am still amazed that anyone could have put up with G's verbal abuse and ego, complicated by his basic insecurities. Jon's reaction was that of a man of small stature (which usually means ego problems in the other direction) who was taught not to take crap from anyone, and who took boxing lessons from childhood to age 15. That they were both immature is obvious, but one can only hope that George is still discovering healthier ways of dealing with his problems. “
The second most common response was “Jon’s/society’s homophobia,” (13 votes) with “They were incompatible” garnering only 5 votes, and “Passionate romances don’t last” a scant 3 votes.
A sizable number (12) voted that they didn’t know.
One person commented, “I think George definitely loved Jon too much. And Jon had a hard time facing the fact that he's queer (or was queer.) Star-crossed lovers. “ Another comment: “I think Jon and George's relationship affected George much more so than Jon. George really loved Jon and that kind of love never really goes away. But George has learned to deal with it over the years and I hope the Culture Club reunion won't end up causing George more heartache.”
Someone else wrote, “I think Jon was extremely insecure about his and George's relationship, and that frustrated George.”
And another commented, “The only people who will ever really know the whole truth about this relationship is George and Jon. We may never really know what and why it happened.”
One reader commented that the survey format only allowed you to select one answer, “…and I would like to vote `All of the above!’ There were a lot of reasons IMO that it didn’t work out, and you can’t isolate it to only one. What about the pressure of being famous and the constant touring they did? I’m sure that didn’t help things.”
Question 4: “Will they get back together?” (“Unlikely”, “Yes,” “No,” and “Who knows?” were your choices.)
Results: Another landslide, with 26 answering “Unlikely” and another 19 voting “No.” As someone commented, “Jon seems pretty happy with his wife and child. And George said he’s not attracted to him anymore, so I’d be pretty surprised if they got back together.” Only 3 selected “Yes” as their answer, and a sizable number (12) didn’t know.
Some comments made include, “George would really surprise me if he got back together with Jon. It depends on how the reunion goes.” And, “I think George is still in love very deep down, but has seen that Jon’s marriage and child have become an obstacle and the chances of them getting back together are slim to none.”
Someone wrote, “George and Jon have very strong personalities. It is highly unlikely that they will ever have a romantic relationship again. What they should be working on is their friendship. That's a relationship that they can have forever. If their respect for each other is real, the dramas that they'll have in the future will be few and far between. They are not young boys anymore, they are grown men and should act like it...but since we are talking about George...a "little" drama with Jon wouldn't hurt ).”
For the three who selected yes, some comments made were, “It won't be long before George moves in. Jon will soon be divorced because who could resist George's sexy looks? He is totally irresistible, especially to a man who knows him better than any fan does.” Another commented, “Jon really needs to get this act together and just admit he loves George. His wife is very insecure about this tour (and who can blame her) and you can't tell me that putting the two of them in the same room and on the same bus/airplane will not trigger some sort of fire between them again. It WILL happen. We may not know about it, but it WILL happen.”
In the next couple of weeks, I might put a new survey here. It would be about music this time.Back home