Clay Aiken thinks 'people don't care' whether he's gay or straight

Clay Aiken feels his sexual orientation isn't as interesting as the media makes it out to be.


"I think for the most part, I really think that people don't care, honestly," said Aiken during a Thursday interview on Access Hollywood host Billy Bush's syndicated radio program, The Billy Bush Show.  "I think that the press -- people like that -- care more than anybody else does."

The American Idol second-season runner-up added its his talents as a singer that the majority of people are interested in, not whether he's gay or straight.

"I think for the most part, people don't want to have that type of stuff pushed, people who are living in Omaha or in Charlotte or wherever," he told Bush.  "They don't want stuff like that pushed in their face, I don't think that's necessary and that's also not what I'm here for."

Aiken added he didn't audition for Idol so his personal life would become public fodder.


"I mean I went on Idol to be a singer, I went on Idol to be an entertainer and that's what my priority is," he told Bush.

Aiken's sexual orientation became a hot topic of conversation since almost immediately after he finished second to Ruben Studdard during Idol's May 2003 second-season finale, and he has previously stated how whether he's gay or not isn't anybody else's business but his own. 



-->"It can be difficult initially. I think when you get into anything and you're not used to people scrutinizing this, that or the other, it bothers you," Aiken told Bush.  "After awhile you kind of just say, 'Forget this. This is not who I am, this is not about me, what I want to do is be a singer, want to be an entertainer, and forget all that stuff.'"

Aiken's fourth album -- "On My Way Here" -- is scheduled to drop May 6, however since he said it contains insight on his personal life that is open for interpretation, don't expect it to specifically reveal much on his love life.


"Some of the songs on the album are personal, some of them are not personal, some of them are very universal and I like to keep that -- allow people to interpret it that way," he told Bush.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio