Over 60,000 people complain to Ofcom after GB News presenter links LGBTQ+ people to “paedos”
Over 60,000 people have made complaints after a GB News presenter spread a “dangerous lie” linking LGBTQ+ people to “paedos”. The complaints will be handed in to Ofcom’s London head office by Good Law Project in person, on Monday, February 17. This is set to be the highest number of complaints ever
Over 60,000 people have made complaints after a GB News presenter spread a “dangerous lie” linking LGBTQ+ people to “paedos”. The complaints will be handed in to Ofcom’s London head office by Good Law Project in person, on Monday, February 17.
This is set to be the highest number of complaints ever submitted to Ofcom about a single programme, ahead of the 54,595 complaints made following Piers Morgan’s comments about Meghan Markle on Good Morning Britain in 2021.
On the Headliners programme which aired on GB News on January 22, presenter Josh Howie discussed a sermon that Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, gave at a National Cathedral prayer service attended by the newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. The Bishop implored the President “to have mercy” on gay, lesbian and transgender children “who fear for their lives”.
During the programme, Mr Howie quoted a statement issued from her church which backs “the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons”. He added, “I just want to say that includes paedos, if you’re doing the full inclusion there.”
The channel has issued no formal apology for these false claims, instead allowing the presenter to repeat this slur on air during a broadcast on Sunday evening.
The false comparison between the LGBTQ+ community and paedophiles was recently described by a High Court judge as “one of the oldest, most pernicious and most stubbornly ineradicable falsities or myths of homophobia”.
Good Law Project argues that in broadcasting these comments, GB News has violated Ofcom’s broadcasting code – which states that broadcasters must protect the public from harmful and offensive material.
Since Friday, February 7, Good Law Project has been providing an online tool to help people to submit complaints to Ofcom about the broadcast and GB News’s failure to take action.
Jo Maugham, Good Law Project executive director, said: “Josh Howie’s comments were shocking, spreading dangerous disinformation about LGBTQ+ people. They should have been challenged and then disowned by GB News. Instead, Mr Howie was encouraged by GB News to double down.
“It’s no wonder that so many people have joined Good Law Project to express their outrage – making this the biggest complaint Ofcom has ever dealt with. Ofcom must act now to stop them spreading hate.
“But the Ofcom complaint is absolutely not the end. We will be helping the LGBTQ+ community – and those who want that community to enjoy the same dignity as the rest of us – to tell the advertisers who fund this hate how they feel.”
