Hung out to dry at The Star

So, let me get this straight (pun snarkily intended):

Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress wears a t-shirt to a gay pride parade that reads "Nobody knows I'm gay".

The parade is the same parade he tried to keep Queers against Israeli Apartheid out of, but failed.

Antonia Zerbisias, i.e. the Star's only interesting read, cracks wise in a comment on her blog, "I didn't know he was gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that", clearly meaning, "He's not gay, so if he was there, it was a political move".

Farber blows a gasket, shoots off a letter to The Star, whining that he was misrepresented as gay. (No, he wasn't. And why is that a problem unless you're homophobic?)

The Star doesn't tell him where to stick it, but instead writes this ridiculous apology, hanging Zerbisias out to dry.

Is that correct? Am I missing something? Because that makes NO. FUCKING. SENSE. I don't for one second believe the "Jews run the media" shit that anti-Semites toss around (If that were true, Jon Stewart would be on prime time!). So what is it? Is the CPC that powerful?

There are so many problems with all of this, not the least of which is why an apology was needed at all. Suppose for a second that Zerbisias wasn't talking tongue-in-cheek. Suppose she really was saying she didn't know he was gay. Why would that require an apology? He was at a Pride parade wearing a shirt that said he was gay! He was photographed wearing it. She wasn't outting someone who wanted to keep his homosexuality a secret. Farber's complaint that she was misrepresenting him as gay is clearly bullshit. Clearly.

So it's political then. What motive could he have for wanting a smackdown on the Zerb? Perhaps the answer is in the question she asked in that very post (the actual post, Kathy English, the actual post. Not the comment). "Excuse me but since when did the interests of Zionist lobby groups determine who or what Canadians can see and hear?"

Well, I'd say that pissed him off nicely. Ironically, the answer is "since now".

This story is seen practically everywhere, but I saw it in these places first:
http://creekside1.blogspot.com/2009/07/gay-freakout-at-star.html
http://canadiancynic.blogspot.com/2009/07/stars-kathy-english-thoroughly-useful.html
http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2009/07/torstar-public-editor-fails-to-take.html