Thursday, 9 February 2012

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Now Says

Jess Boulton, News Editor

The truth about MC Harvey's 'backtracking' over Cheryl Cole

Why I stand by my interview with MC Harvey

Cheryl Cole and MC Harvey have never been snapped together

I've done some controversial stories in my time. But the fallout from our MC Harvey and Cheryl Cole exclusive has surpassed even my expectations.

What started as a simple interview has sparked a national debate on who's telling the truth - and it seems like anyone who's anyone is weighing in with their opinion.

Today, everyone's talking about a radio interview Harvey did at the weekend, claiming we had fabricated some quotes about Cheryl. Of course this is beyond ludicrous.

As with Harvey, we're used to celebs getting scared and trying to backtrack on what they've said. And for that reason we record every interview.

As a national journalist of eight years I was upset that my professionalism and character had been called into question. But then I put myself in Harvey's place.

All I did was tell the truth and I've been subjected to a barrage of online abuse since the first story. But for every vicious Tweet I've had to put up with, Harvey's had dozens more.

For a week now, he's been under fire from the haters on Twitter, is exhausted from the constant questioning, has fallen out with his one-time confidante Cheryl and has been branded a liar.

It seems he simply wanted a way for the whole thing to go away. So why did he lash out at us, the magazine that actually had his back?

Well, maybe the answer lies in what he also said in that same radio interview: ‘She's [Cheryl] got a team around her, she's worth a lot of money, why they gonna want her to be associated in any way with someone like me with my track record?

'I know her press officer very well. When you're trying to portray someone as the golden child of Britain, after the Ashley thing, you can't be associated with Harvey, because if you go by the stereotype you're going to go, "bad boy", "So Solid", "he's that" and that's going to mess up her perfect image.'

Now those haters have jumped on his words once more. But those critics should read what he's been saying for the rest of the week.

The day after our original interview, his camp released a statement saying: ‘Michael Harvey stands by comments that have been published by the magazine and later by his comments on Twitter.'

Yesterday (Tuesday) - two days after his radio interview - Harvey Tweeted his support of our second ground-breaking exclusive in this week's issue: the emails that prove his relationship.

He told fans: ‘I said I had emails, I've shown the emails. I've cleared my name. That's all I wanted to do. #proof'.

So yes, I'm not happy about what Harvey said on radio. No, we would never, ever fabricate anything. But am I angry? No. It takes every generous bone in my body to say it, but we can't blame the man for wanting to brush all this stress under the carpet and take the easy way out.

However, Now won't give up when the going gets tough. We will never dupe our readers. We put our head above the parapet to bring you the truth. And regardless of Harvey, Cheryl or any of our rivals who relish sticking a knife in our back, that's what we will continue to do.

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