Illamasqua model Rain Dove and noughties X Factor winner in Twitter spat following multiple “homophobic comments”
Stephen “Steve” Brookstein rose to reality TV ‘fame’ on The X Factor over a decade ago, but quickly disappeared from the limelight when his record deal with Simon Cowell’s Sony BMG was cut short.
He has since claimed to have been the victim of a secret media vendetta and has taken to tweeting strange, ambiguous conspiracy theories involving Simon Cowell and his associated TV and music empire. He also simultaneously refuses interviews with the media at the same time as claiming the media are ignoring his ‘revelations’.
He is fast becoming reality TV’s own version of the shouty guy on the street warning of the end of the world using a traffic cone for amplification. Now the singer has caused further controversy on Twitter, posting a bizarre outburst about ‘bitchy queens’.
In his original post, 49 year old Brookstein said: “Oh look a bitchy homosexual. You don’t get many of those on Twitter.”
When another user responded to Brookstein saying: “have a day off”, the singer replied: “I’m betting you’re gay.”
Followed by: “I have a theory about a bitchy queen gene that a few gay men have. I think you may have it.”
My pet hate is lesbians and gays telling me how I should act towards bitchy queens.
— Steve Brookstein (@stevebrookstein) December 3, 2017
Fundraising Director and Marketing Director for Pride London, Polly Shute was also told to “go fuck yourself” by Brookstein after she responded to one of his posts.
The Twitter spat continued, when Out News Global Publisher Linda Riley stepped in to say: “The fact that you can’t even see that this is homophobic is the worry.”
Brookstein then replies “Don’t be stupid. Some homosexuals are bitchy queens. Like some women are crazy bunny boilers and some men are rapists. It’s just the way it is. Now fuck off.”
Brookstein also blocked US-based model Rain Dove after they responded to his tweets in defence of LGBT communities. Since Brookstein blocked the Illamasqua model, Dove has tweeted:
“I’m very open to discussing this tho. I don’t believe in conditionals. Like “u can follow bt shut up”. I believe in Educate Don’t Hate.”
So @stevebrookstein attacked the #LGBT community. I responded. Here's the result… was it something I said? 😂😂😂 #ImAPussy pic.twitter.com/NvIb99nO1f
— Rain Dove (@raindovemodel) December 4, 2017
Rain Dove gave Out News Global the following quote:
“Steve represents the way many people are thinking right now. The reason they get so much attention over this and others haven’t, is because they have a social platform that impacts tens of thousands of people.
“Their ideas can impact many people. Therefore we can’t sit idly by and let someone promote the idea of corrective rape. We should hold each other to the highest standards and Educate Don’t Hate.”
Brookstein, who describes himself in his Twitter bio as a “Singer. Family man. Survivor”, last released an album in 2014. The record, named Forgotten Man, didn’t make it into the UK charts and has since lived up to its name.
In an interview with the Guardian in 2014, regarding his memoir Getting Over The X, it’s written that Brookstein came across as “humourless, arrogant, hubristic and resentful, isolated in the toxic fog of his perpetual huff about the unacceptable priorities of a primetime entertainment show.”
