James Arthur claims homophobic comments were ‘taken out of context’
The former reality TV star says he did not mean to āoffend anyoneā with his behaviour.
Following his recent return to the charts, X Factor winner James Arthur has been discussing his homophobic past, claiming his anti-gay comments were ātaken out of contextā.
Arthur nearly ended his own career back in 2013, after branding a fellow artist a āf**king queerā.
However, the singer ā who is back a No.1 with āSay You Wonāt Let Goā ā claims he ādidnāt mean to offend anyoneā with his discriminative behaviour.
āMy music is about love and I donāt discriminate against any type of person,ā he told BBC Newsbeat.
āIt was taken out of context and I didnāt mean to offend anyone at all.
āBut I make no excuses and I dealt with the whole thing in the wrong way.ā
The artist also opened up about his battle with drugs, which he says was brought on by feelings of depression and anxiety.
āThere was no getting through to me I was just buried in self-loathing and doing all the wrong things,ā he said.
Following the controversy, the singer vowed to make a ālong term commitmentā to leading LGBT rights charity Stonewall, though he never fulfilled this promise.
Meanwhile, fellow X Factor winner Steve Brookstein ā who has enjoyed considerably less success than Arthur ā spent the weekend hitting out at ābitchy homosexualsā on Twitter.
Brookstein rose to prominence on the original X Factor series in 2004, but was quickly ditched by his record label and fell into obscurity.
He has not had a charting album or single release in nearly a decade.
