Not so blue
by Ben Widdicombe (Sydney Star Observer, early 1995)
Footballer Ian Roberts was nowhere to be seen at the launch of (not only) blue on Monday, other than on the pages which entertainer Rose Leaf held up to the audience.
 blue might have had him naked but we had him first' Ian Roberts with Corby Beard at the launch of Priscilla - Queen of the Desert published in the SSO last year. |
"You can't even see his dick, she said. "I've seen more of Ian Roberts in the toilets. Not that I look.
Rose was reminded by the event's MC that she had agreed not to mention Roberts in the show, and the program moved swiftly on.
Roberts has been unavailable for comment since the revelation that he posed naked for the first issue of blue, which comes out this week. The photographs, taken in October, were originally planned for publication in black & white. But when publishers approached Roberts to use the spread in their new gay- targeted magazine, he had "no objection".
Editor of blue, Karen-Jane Eyre, said that Roberts was "not a bit bothered" by the publicity surrounding the photographs
"He thinks the accompanying story speaks for itself," she said.
Eyre admitted that she expected some controversy over the photographs, but said the magazine was a "benchmark" and would always have drawn comment.
"We were thrilled, she said. "The photo spread presents Ian in such an artistic and tasteful way; it is about a man in control of his destiny. It's a change from the cliched, stereotypical myths associated with footballers.
Paul Freeman, who took the photographs, has known Roberts for three years. "It wasn't planned to be a political statement or anything like that, he said. "[The media] tend to perceive celebrities in a very one-dimensional way, and this is just another side of Ian.
Roberts has not responded to requests to be interviewed, but has been spotted this week in gay bars along Oxford Street. Freeman said that the photographs were "not necessarily a statement of his sexuality.
blue will be published quarterly, and Eyre said the magazine had plans to do similar shots of other celebrities in upcoming issues.