George Michael tells Jo Whiley of Radio 1 he can’t return to America because too many people are armed with guns and angry with him following his new single ‘Shoot The Dog’. “They have terrible gun control laws and they also have a very reactionary Press and that right now makes for danger,” he explained. “It doesn’t make me a coward, I mean, my God, they’re all armed.”

George Michael chatted with Capital FM about how he was recording his controversial new album before the September 11 terror attacks. George explained, “I finished it on September 11th itself. It seemed like the most scary time and it stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t finish the record at the time firstly because September 11th was just as horrific to me as everyone else. I stopped working for about six weeks. I felt like my creative life and the horror that everyone was watching at the same time were intermingled. I was freaked out by the fact that I’d been writing about the possibility of something like this and then it happened, so I didn’t know how to finish it and I really didn’t know how to release it and be respectful of what had gone on, and I couldn’t really so I just sat on it for a while. Then this year, when people started talking about the possible bombing of Iraq and there were strong arguments against the bombing Iraq, I started to think, ‘OK you should tighten this up and make it more relevant to what’s happening now and put it out’, which is what happened.” Audio has since been removed.

The Mirror reports on ITV’s Tonight George Michael has addressed the allegations that his new ‘Shoot The Dog’ video was designed for publicity. “This would be the most stupid publicity stunt anyone ever pulled,” he insisted. “I mean look at the publicity I’ve got out of it. I’m not stupid. I knew I was going to walk into a wall of criticism. If anyone really thinks I wanted to give up the possibility of going back to my home in America and to actually put myself in danger by being open to misinterpretation, then they’re stupid.”

George Michael tells BBC News he can no longer return to his home in the US that he shares with long-term lover gay Kenny Goss after his controversial video ‘Shoot the Dog’ caused a huge controversy in the country, mostly due to an article in the New York Post that branded him a “past-his-prime pop pervert.” “Americans are very reactionary right now and I – because of that article – cannot return to America, even though my partner lives there,” he said. “It’s been very heavily inferred that I was actually an al-Qaeda sympathizer, that somehow I thought that there was something not horrific and shocking and undeserved about the attacks on 11 September.” Read more.

Oasis singer Noel Gallagher has verbally attacked fellow pop star George Michael, branding him “a liar and a fake” for his controversial new video for ‘Shoot the Dog’. “What’s he trying to say?” asked Gallagher. “He’s now trying to make social comment, this is the guy who hid who he actually was from the public for 20 years, now, all of a sudden, he’s got something to say about the way of the world. I find it laughable. That’s even before you get to the song, which is diabolical.” Read more.

‘American Idol’ and ‘Pop Idol’ host Simon Cowell has blasted George Michael’s decision to not release his controversial new song ‘Shoot The Dog’ in America. “George is a coward,” he said. “It shows a lack of conviction to write a song about America and not actually release it there.”

The controversial new video from George Michael called ‘Shoot The Dog’ that pokes fun at Tony Blair and George Bush has been posted on MTV’s UK website.