...says Peter Tatchell

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has criticised broadcasters for pandering to ‘camp, cliched stereotypes’ of gay men by giving prime-time slots to comics such as Alan Carr and Graham Norton.

He said Norton and Carr pander to ‘very tired archetypes’ in the vein of John Inman and Larry Grayson – and accused both comics of getting ‘cheap laughs’ from their sexuality.

In an interview with actors’ newspaper The Stage, Tatchell said: ‘The problem is not that they are camp comedians, but that they are the only kind of gay comedian that have major TV programmes. Why hasn’t any intelligent, non-stereotypical comedian like Scott Capurro got a prime-time slot?

‘Heterosexual audiences like laughing at gay men and so people like Alan Carr and Graham Norton fit that bill, whereas Scott Capurro is much too challenging. He makes straight people the butts of his jokes.’

Capurro has regularly appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Five’s The Wright Stuff and various talking-heads shows, although his willfully offensive stand-up, which regularly causes walkouts at live shows, is unlikely to make prime-time fodder.

Published: 18 Nov 2009