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Couples by Candlelight

Couple Anthony Callea and Tom Campbell will duet together at Nine's Carols by Candlelight.

Nine’s Carols by Candelight will this year include a duet by partners Anthony Callea and Tim Campbell.

While the song in question is being kept under wraps, it’s a significant move by the network to feature an openly gay couple in such a profile event. But Nine’s annual event has featured families and couples before, including Jimmy Barnes and family this year.

Both Callea and Campbell have become more relaxed about their public status. Campbell also appeared as support act at Callea’s December gigs at Crown Casino.

Nine’s Christmas Eve event will be Campbell’s first, and follows from his musical stint in Shout The Musical.

Next year he returns to Nine for more Singing Bee.

Source / photo: Herald Sun.

32 Responses

  1. Charlotte, if you were a real fan of Anthony Callea’s, whether he confirmed or denied being gay, would be irrelevant. Real fans of an artist support them through both good and bad times. I don’t see why people in the public eye or not, have to confirm or deny being gay. It’s no one else’s business except theirs. Would you like the media or anyone for that matter asking you if you’re gay? Saying that Anthony ‘stayed in the closet just to get the fan votes’ is certainly questionable. Who knows – he may have received more votes if he announced to the world that he’s gay, but it’s a sad state of affairs if people vote for an artist based on his or her sexuality. It’s always the way that if a young man in the public eye doesn’t have a girlfriend, then he must be gay. What a load of homophobic ignorance! There’s far too much emphasis placed on whether a person is gay or not, and Charlotte, if you’re no longer a fan of Anthony’s because you think he lied, so be it, but you’re certainly missing out on the joy of listening to his beautiful voice.

  2. Good on them I say,makes no difference to me whether they are gay or straight,they are just two blokes singing a christmas carol together. I am sure they aren’t the first gay people to sing at carols. Kudos to channel nine!!

  3. Dueta, im not a friend of Anthony Calleas no, but I dont recall Anthony Callea ever coming out of his own accord, he was “outed” on a sydney breakfast radio show by a traffic reporter in such a way that it became impossible for him to deny it anymore more. I really have nothing against he or Tim Campbell, I hope they are very happy together, but as a young gay man myself, I find it very hard to see Anthony Callea as a role model when im sure that given the chance he’d still be happily closeted and selling 100,000s of albums to females that thought they still had a chance to get him into bed.

  4. best move Nine has made all year. Altho I’m with you craig, Christmas duets are cringeworthy at most Xmas events :S i’m not a fan of Callea and i *hate* tim campbell cos i think he’s useless as a host. but im not at all against them as a couple. If there’s backlash over this I’ll be so disappointed. its not like they’re gonna make out on screen :S:S

  5. @ Mac, do it was actually all the censorship and not wanting to offend these family groups that it got the axe cause people weren’t interested in a scripted soap it was suppose to be reality TV.

  6. Great news, I’ve saw them sing a duet at the charity event Light Of The Night for the leukemia foundation a few weeks back and they were just great.

    Good on you channel 9 and Vision Australia. they are both wonderful talents.

  7. gawd its not as though they will be singing islands in the stream, holding hands and stealing kisses through out the song…they will probably just sing whatever song they tell em to and walk off!

  8. Personally I think well done to all concerned. The fact that it even makes news shows we have still got a long way to go on this matter.

    My two younger boys are singing with Anthony at Carols as part of their choir and they are really looking forward to it.

    I have to express disappointment with Craig’s comment re: Anthony having to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the closet. First of all it shouldn’t matter enough to have to make some sort of announcement (did he actually every deny it? I’m not sure), secondly he was relatively young at the time and in the early stages of kick-starting his post-Idol solo career – unfortunately he or his management may have felt it unwise to be”openly gay” at that point. Surely it’s a personal thing and even hetero couples go through that “we’re just good friends” routine until they feel they are ready to acknowledge a relationship to the public.

    I often think of poor Rock Hudson having to live a lie durig his lifetime to the public and I’m not sure that Cliff Richard has fared much better.

    Anyway, Anthony & Tim make a cute couple – best of luck to them.

  9. Just as a reply to Craig – may I just mention that Callea came out a lot earlier many celebrities, including his partner Tim, Darren Hayes , Ellen DeGeneres and Sir Ian McKellar – just to name a few.

    He was in the midst of negotiations with his management and record company RE: coming out when the ‘news’ broke, all Vic Larusso’s comments did was quicken the announcement, not force it.

    Kudos to Anthony and Tim, to Vision Australia and to the Network 9.

  10. Why are people making such a fuss about this? Two extremely talented guys singing a duet. It matters not to me and millions of others whether they’re gay or straight. Bring on Carols By Candlelight 2008.

    Btw Craig, how do you know Anthony Callea had to be ‘dragged kicking and screaming out of the closet, and if it wasnt for Vic Caruso’s slip up on radio im certain he would still be in the closet now!’? Are you a personal friend of Anthony Callea? Some people believe everything they hear and read because that’s what they want to believe.

  11. Totally right Craig. I had some friends who were diehard Callea fans during his stint on Idol (I was too, in fact) who spent a lot of time defending Anthony against rumours that he was gay because he said several times that he wasn’t. It’s great that he’s finally being honest with himself but he lied for so long that I find it hard to respect him now. It’ as though he stayed closeted just to get the fan votes.

  12. While its probably a step forward for the acceptance of gay couples into the mainstream, I find any couple singing together (straight or otherwise) at this kind of event cringeworthy in the extreme.
    That and im not a fan of Callea, hes hailed as being this poster boy for the acceptance of gay men in society but he had to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the closet, and if it wasnt for Vic Caruso’s slip up on radio im certain he would still be in the closet now!

  13. oh, i wasn’t aware that they were a couple. but good for them, very brave; its one thing to come out, but another thing altogether to display it infront of millions

  14. Watch the families groups be up in arms over this one! lol If they can get Big Brother off the air then they certainly won’t put up with this sort of filth..

    I reckon they will probably sing “All I want for Xmas is you” just to make a point.

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