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Cancer announcement takes kylie.com down

Renai LeMay ZDNet Australia

Published: 18 May 2005 11:25 BST

Kylie Minogue's Web site has been disabled due to huge levels of interest in the star's announcement she has breast cancer.

The kylie.com URL currently accesses a page featuring a photo of the popular singer and an official statement saying: "Due to the overwhelming response to today's sad news regarding Kylie we have had to disable the site temporarily. We hope to have the site back online shortly and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause."

The statement goes on to cover the breast cancer announcement and the cancellation of her upcoming Australian tour and Glastonbury festival appearance. None of the site's usual features are available.

Before the site shut down, fans from all over the world had been using it to publicly express their sympathy for Kylie's plight and their best wishes for her recovery.

The closure reflects a distinct trend amongst Kylie fans of causing havoc in the online arena. Austalian ticketing vendor Ticketek has repeatedly experienced problems meeting online demand whenever Kylie tours in Australia.

When Kylie tickets last went on sale there in January, Ticketek restricted the amount of people who could log on to its Web site at any one time, although the site is designed to handle thousands of simultaneous connections.

Renai LeMay reported from Sydney for ZDNet Australia. For more ZDNet Australia stories, click here.