MICHAEL STIPE - STIPE ANNOUNCES BANDMATES' HETEROSEXUALITY

R.E.M. singer MICHAEL STIPE has poked fun at his homosexuality by reading out a 'statement' revealing his bandmates MIKE MILLS and PETER BUCK are heterosexual. In the staged press conference video on the group's YouTube webpage, Stipe sits down to read his humourous statement as camera bulbs flash repeatedly around him. The frontman, who first revealed his sexual preference in an interview with Time magazine in 2001, retains a deadly serious composure throughout the clip, before collapsing in a heap of laughter at the end. In the video, Stipe says: "R.E.M.'s Pete Buck and Mike Mills have announced today, after years of awkward speculation, that they are heterosexual, or straight. "I am happy for my bandmates and congratulate their candidness and their courage at making this bold statement. I stand beside them as always and I'm proud of their strength of character in this difficult, but liberating, decision to come forward. "I can say on their behalf that they're relieved to acknowledge their real selves publicly. Mike Mills said, and I quote, 'It was time to step out of the fog, fag, fog... the fog of uncertainty and into the light of light.'"