GB News investigated by Ofcom after guest links Pride to paedophilia
Lauren Del Fabbro, Press Association Entertainment Reporter
GB News is being investigated by Ofcom after one of its guests linked Pride parades to bestiality and paedophilia.
The media regulator announced on Monday that it had launched the investigation after the programme, which aired on July 5, just after London Pride, prompted more than 12,000 complaints.
The remarks were made by Catholic media commentator Caroline Farrow during a broadcast of the Alex Armstrong Tonight show.
Farrow told the host that Pride was “not about gay rights” and had “become about celebrating every single sexuality that isn’t heterosexuality”.
She added: “Including some very bizarre and unhealthy kinks and quirks, you know, like furries and bestiality, and even minor-attracted – they call themselves minor-attracted. You know, paedophiles.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Bimini and Green Party leader Zack Polanski were among those to speak out and signed an open letter calling for Ofcom to hold the channel to account.
Armstrong interjected during the live segment and challenged the comments. He addressed the comments again in a later broadcast, describing them as an “age-old gay trope”.
He told viewers: “Comments made by guests last weekend conflated gay pride with the celebration of paedophilia.
“This is an age-old gay trope that’s been used over a number of years to demonise and slander gay people. And as I said to the guest during that segment, it is a statement I fundamentally reject and have not witnessed when attending Pride myself.”
The videos have since been removed from GB News’s YouTube channel.
A GB News spokesperson said: “These investigations have been the subject of an orchestrated campaign against GB News. As a regulated broadcaster, GB News takes its regulatory obligations seriously and complies fully with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.
“GB News is Britain’s number one news channel and has proudly occupied this position for the last 12 months. We intend to robustly defend these investigations.”
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