今日吃瓜

Over the last two weeks there has been a little chatter about whether Jamie Jackson was an exploited victim or a rock star in the making. With James Brechney confirming today that he has split as manager for the aspiring vocalist, Queensland LGBTI community figure Michael James has thrown in his two cents worth. He reckons he knows a thing or two about being a pop-up ‘celebrity’ 鈥�听as he was one himself.

[The Star Observer听promises this is the last opinion piece on this topic, but with Jamie Jackson’s recording career officially commencing today, the timing is apt.]听

IT was interesting last week reading the opinion pieces from 听who took a swipe at James Brechney (who )听regarding听Jamie Jackson, his new-found 鈥渇ame鈥�, his career path and his 鈥渂randing鈥� as his manager called it. For me what was most interesting was the overwhelming sense of entitlement etched across it all.

Jamie Jackson joins the ever-growing list of nobodies poached from queer obscurity and thrust into the limelight. It鈥檚 become a pretty repetitive cycle. With queer journalists carefully on the look out for the next gay news story, everything has the potential to gain traction and to go viral, if you will.

This is perfectly acceptable, but what鈥檚 not acceptable is this idea that we should somehow become sustainable overnight celebrities, ringing in endorsements and cashing in on nice big pay cheques because of it all.

Fortunately I can write this piece with some perspective. I, too, was a gay who suddenly found myself dead centre in the middle of the spotlight.

One day quietly at home planning our future and the next on national television arguing with Wendy Francis, sporting the worst hair style ever and trying to sound intelligent. I refer to the in 2011, a short-lived, fiercely fought campaign in Queensland that had a shelf life of a few months of which I was front and centre. But this isn鈥檛 just all about me. Well, some of it is.

What this is about is the celebrity trap of today鈥檚 youth, our new emerging culture of social media and the idea of instant fame and celebrity.

We live in the era of the “Kardashian鈥�, where we are spoon fed the notion that we should be celebrated and rewarded, not for talent, but for simply being 鈥渒nown鈥�.

Rearing its ugly head from within this culture is the rampant sub culture of the celebrity gays, those of us in the centre of the gay spotlight for our fleeting 15 minutes.

However, as is the case with Jamie, many before him and the many who will follow is this unsubstantiated idea that it should last, that the world owes us something and they are left standing empty handed and unsatisfied as the spotlight fades while wondering, 鈥渨hat now?鈥�

Don鈥檛 get me wrong, the irony of the fact that the only reason this piece is being published or written is because of my own lingering notoriety. But I鈥檓 ok with that, I鈥檓 perfectly okay with the idea that I鈥檓 pretty average and I very quickly came to terms with the fact that despite whatever we went through, the world owes me nothing and I will in turn receive just that, nothing, unless of course I want to work for it.

My friends are never slow in pointing out the fact that I鈥檓 a 鈥渕edia whore鈥� as they so delicately chose to lovingly label me. Fast forgetting the years I spent at university studying film and media.

My love has always been for performing, telling, writing, reporting stories in any number of manners, so when I found I had an audience, I of course used all the leverage I could muster from whatever lingering notoriety I may have had to get myself work in community television, radio and print media.

I鈥檝e had a suitably enjoyable time, being fabulously average, being largely unsuccessful commercially and not earning a single dollar from it all. It鈥檚 fun and you鈥檒l never catch me calling myself 听鈥渇amous鈥� or a 鈥渃elebrity”.

But I get to do all this talking about the things that are important to me and my community. I do these things because I enjoy them. I鈥檇 be doing them eventually irrespective of what happened, but my point 鈥斕齣f there is to be one 鈥斕齣s that I have never once been under the illusion that anything was owed to me. The same cannot be said for Jamie and his manager.

In his piece James Brechney writes about the struggles and trials of Jamie Jackson as though for everything negative that he was put through, there should be some justifiable reward for this journey. Sadly, this is where James is so desperately wrong 鈥斕齮here is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. The queer spotlight does not rain down riches on those who fall beneath it, for the Jamie Jacksons of the world to be standing with arms wide open waiting for the gold is senseless.

Jamie and James should be stepping back to look at the good that can be taken from their experiences and how they can better use them to engage with their community to make a difference. People didn鈥檛 connect with Jamie鈥檚 story because he was the hard working 听aspiring rapper and underdog ala Eminem in 8 Mile, it was because they saw an injustice in his story.

Despite Jackson comprehensively winning his case, getting $40,000 in legal fees, all I read here is someone not happy and still looking for something. So sadly, his story has no happy ending, but maybe it will?

But what we can know is that if financial gain and rewards are expected from his experiences he will be left bitterly disappointed.

Michael James tweets under