Keating: 'Moir article was disgusting'

Ronan Keating has criticised the article in the Daily Mail which described Stephen Gately's death as "sleazy".

Columnist Jan Moir, who wrote the article, caused outrage when she suggested that the tragedy "strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships" and added that Gately's death wasn't "natural".

Speaking to The Observer, Keating said: "None of us read the article because we were told 'You wouldn't want to read it', so we purposely didn't, we ignored it. But obviously it was unavoidable to hear what comments were being made, and I think it's disgusting."

He continued: "It was just wrong: one, for her to write it, and two, for the paper to print it. It shouldn't have been allowed. It was wrong. It looked to me like somebody trying to make a name for themselves out of a terrible situation, a devastating situation."

Keating also criticised Moir's apology, saying: "The alleged apology, that was written a week later, was her defending herself! It's just disgraceful. Again, for her to do it and for the paper to allow it. I'm dumbfounded. It's bizarre.

"But anyway, again, I wouldn't want to dwell on it. I wouldn't want to give her any publicity for that. He was a human being. A human being with feelings; a husband, a family that have feelings.

"At what point do people cross that line? Incredible. Incredibly insensitive."

> Keating 'exhausted' after Gately's death