My Name is Prince and I am . . . a Homophobe?

I'm not necessarily saying that Prince has a coherent set of political and social views (that any of us mere mortals can understand), but this tiny article in the "Talk of the Town" section of the New Yorker doesn't do him any favors. After a brief discussion of Prince's new house in California, we get what the article's author, Claire Hoffman, must think is the money quote. Quoth Prince:

"So here’s how it is: you’ve got the Republicans, and basically they want to live according to this.” He pointed to a Bible. “But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you’ve got blue, you’ve got the Democrats, and they’re, like, ‘You can do whatever you want.’ Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right.”

When asked about his perspective on social issues—gay marriage, abortion—Prince tapped his Bible and said, “God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’ ”

The article then concludes with a short anecdote about a visitor to Prince's former residence in Paisley Park. And that's it. Now, I know that Prince can be elliptical and mysterious and all, but come on. If you're going to have an article about Prince in which he says something fairly controversial, you have to at least follow-up with it. Does this mean he is against gay marriage? Against homosexuality in general? Come on, Claire. One of the most sexually-provocative performers in popular music just said some pretty damning things about the sexual activities of 10% of the population (and likely a sizeable percentage of his own audience). You're the one with the New Yorker byline, Claire. I would ask him myself what exactly he means by that, but he's unlikely to answer my phone calls. You're taking a page out of Prince's own book by putting something suggestive out there and not fleshing it out completely. It works for him. Not for you.

And yes. As a Prince fan, I am slightly disturbed to hear him express what (possibly could be . . . again, I don't know because Hoffman doesn't do any real investigating for me) pretty intolerant views about homosexuality. But. Oof. Can I just reference all the hand-wringing that happens around modern-day Wagner reception and be done with it? My own cultural studies/audience studies/ethnomusicological stance is that Wagner, Prince, or whomever (lots of musicians throughout history and the world have held views that I virulently disagree with) may have some manner of control over their own beliefs and political stances, but that certainly doesn't limit what meaning their music has for me or what use I can make of it.