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*R&B singer Ne-Yo has had an interesting couple of weeks on the World Wide Web. First a picture of him and a young woman in the midst of a sex act surfaces, courtesy of his hacked-into Sidekick…as the story goes.
A rumor being e-mailed around this week, and attributed to “Barbra Stradoff, Essence Magazine” is that Ne-Yo is gay and finally coming out of the closet in the pages of the publication’s October issue. But according to the magazine, the rumor is 100 percent false.
“This story is not true. Ne-Yo isn't even in our October issue, and there's no one here by the name of Barbara Stradoff,” a rep for Essence told EUR.
The first clue that this story is bogus is the circulated e-mail itself. Here it is in all of its unedited glory:
“The newly famed singer/songwriter has came out of the closet and announced that he is gay. The multi-platinum recording artist sat down for the October issue of Essence Magazine last week and announced the shocking news stating, "Yes, I am gay, and I have always been." After several internet rumors have been circulating around the internet. He also said, "You now this world we live in is full of judgement, resulting in one of the reasons why it took me so long to come out of the closet." Earlier this month, a man by the name of Derrick Johnson claimed that he had an intimate relationship with the singer during there teen years in high school. He also said that for months the singer and Def Jam has been trying to pay him to keep quiet over the ordeal. Worrying that it would destroy his image. Ne-yo responds saying, that the relationship did occur and he is no longer ashamed of saying that he was deeply in love. Reciting "That situation was what inspired me to write the song Unfaithful. But no one knew it was actually about myself, and our relationship." He told Essence that he doesn't care anymore, he was tired of living a lie and is ready to come clean. Quoting, "the music industry can either except me for who I am, or desert me." The full interview with the magazine is expected to hit stands mid-October.
Barbra Stradoff,
Essence Magazine