Richard Hammond has been given a lesson from the LGBT+ community, after claiming he doesn’t understand why people come out publicly.
The ‘Grand Tour’ presenter said he believes it’s “old fashioned” to “make a big deal out of” a person’s sexuality, as he attempted to defend a controversial joke he made earlier this year.
While speaking about the fact he joked that his dislike of ice cream had “something to do with being straight”, Richard turned his attention to the wider LGBT+ community and coming out.
“Look, anyone who knows me knows I wasn’t being serious, that I’m not homophobic. Love is love, whatever the sex of the two people in love,” he said.
“It may be because I live in a hideously safe and contained middle-class world, where a person’s sexuality is not an issue. But when I hear of people in the media coming out, I think, why do they even feel the need to mention it?”
“It is so old-fashioned to make a big deal of it. That isn’t even an interesting thing to say at a dinner party any more.”
After his comments were picked up in the press, people on Twitter wasted no time explaining to Richard why it is still incredibly important for LGBT+ people to speak about their sexuality.
LGBT+ rights advocate Peter Tatchell previously accused Richard of “pandering to prejudice” in an interview with the BBC, following the ‘ice cream’ incident.
“It’s a perverse world when everyday pleasures like ice cream becomes the butt of homophobic innuendo,” he said.
HuffPost UK’s Daniel Welsh also penned in blog on the topic, calling for Richard to consider that “all of his words have weight and consequence”.