Didja hear?

This shocking news from the world of music: North Carolina's very own American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken has announced, on the cover of People no less, he's gay.

I truly did not see this coming.

The next thing you know they'll be telling us NBA players are above average height.

Now that he's a daddy Clay's telling the world he could no longer hide his true self from his son.

"I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things," Clay tells People mag. "I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."

Obviously, he has no idea about parenting, mine lied to me all the time.

My personal fave was my dad's response to his loving children's repeated and passionate pleas for a dog: "The landlord doesn't allow them." OK Dad, we understand, it's in the rules.

It seemed like a good answer, until a head-slapping moment much later in life when I realized I'd always lived in a house with a mortgage. It was only then when I understood exactly what he was saying and the diabolical nature of his plan. My old man, by diffusing the dog situation early on, made sure none of us would make the connection to who the landlord really was.

That said, good luck Clay. You're gonna need it.