A GB News broadcast in which a presenter said that “full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons” at a church would “include paedos” breached the Broadcasting Code on harmful and offensive material, Ofcom has said.
However, Ofcom resolved the complaint without sanction because GB News had already broadcast an apology and a fuller discussion about the context of the comment within two-and-a-half weeks of the original programme.
Some 1,390 complaints were sent to Ofcom directly complaining that the comment was offensive, while 71,851 complaints were gathered by advocacy group the Good Law Project.
The comment was made on 22 January during GB News’s 11pm newspaper review and comedy programme Headliners, which has since been cancelled, by presenter and comedian Josh Howie.
Howie was discussing with two other comedians a news story about President Donald Trump’s reaction to a sermon given in front of him by the bishop of Washington urging him to have compassion for LGBTQ+ and migrant communities.
During the discussion, Howie said “and also by the way the type of church that she belongs to, the diocese that talks about the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, I just want to say that includes paedos. If we’re doing the full inclusion there”.
LGBTQ+, or the longer version LGBTQIA+, generally refers to lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer and/or questioning, intersex and asexual, with the plus sign signifying anyone not captured by these categories.
An example of the complaints submitted said: “This was a deliberate attempt to conflate being gay with being a paedophile and to imply that this is accepted and acceptable within the LGBTQ+ community.
“The intention behind such a comment was to propagate untruths and promote an attitude of hate towards LGBTQ+ people.”
Ofcom decided the comment was a breach of Rule 2.3 of the Broadcasting Code, part of the section on harm and offence. The rule states: “In applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context…
“Such material may include, but is not limited to, offensive language, violence, sex, sexual violence, humiliation, distress, violation of human dignity, discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation, and marriage and civil partnership), and treatment of people who appear to be put at risk of significant harm as a result of their taking part in a programme.
“Appropriate information should also be broadcast where it would assist in avoiding or minimising offence.”
Ofcom said there was a “high degree of potential offence” as viewers were likely to interpret the comment in light of the prejudicial trope conflating or associating members of the LGBTQ+ community with paedophilia. It said this was not justified by the context of the programme.
Ofcom did not issue any sanctions because GB News aired an episode of Free Speech Nation on 9 February that featured Howie explaining what he had meant by the comment and a lengthy interview with a contributor challenging what he said.
In the discussion, Howie said he had been referring to a lesser-known idea that paedophiles might try to legitimise themselves through the Q+ label in LGBTQ+. But Ofcom said viewers were unlikely to have understood this from the original comment, instead interpreting it as the homophobic trope it set out in its decision.
Howie also issued an apology, stating: “I’d like to say, I’m sorry, anybody who thought that I was making an offensive comment, I’m sorry.”
He also said: “But I’m genuinely sorry that anyone might have taken what I said to mean this, and I apologise to her, anyone who thought that’s what I was saying, OK?”
What GB News told Ofcom about LGBTQ+ comment
GB News told Ofcom ahead of the ruling that the comment “absolutely was not a gratuitous insult to gay people and was not in any way meant to be” but acknowledged “it is still possible that the comment may have upset or offended some viewers”.
It said: “For the avoidance of doubt, we entirely acknowledge the nature of the potential offence caused by Josh Howie’s comments. The conflation or association of homosexuality with paedophilia is a harmful and homophobic trope. We also acknowledge that Mr Howie’s comment was misinterpreted by some to endorse the homophobic trope.”
The broadcaster said that in the full context of the programme, which was described at launch as a show that looks “at things sideways so we often spot the irony, the paradoxes and even the absurdity of serious things”, it was unlikely to have caused offence.
It described Howie’s comment as “a joke…that reflected a serious point too”.
In its representations to Ofcom, GB News described the Good Law Project campaign, which it said “canvassed” complaints, as being “motivated by an intense dislike of GB News and [an] unshakeable belief that it ought to be closed down”.
It noted that due to the widespread sharing of a short clip of Howie’s comment on social media, accompanied by what it described as “disingenuous commentary”, many of the complainants would not have seen the full sequence of the moment in context.
GB News also argued that finding against it would unlawfully interfere with its Article 10 right to freedom of expression as it would require a broadcaster to “ensure that every viewer understands each and every joke featured in its programming”.
The Good Law Project’s defamation lawyer Matthew Gill urged Ofcom to impose sanctions to hold GB News to account. He said: “GB News defended its disgraceful claim about the LGBTQ+ community as ‘free speech’ until the bitter end.”
In February, shortly after the programme in question, GB News won a judicial review against Ofcom over previous findings that said the broadcaster had breached due impartiality with its use of then-Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg as a presenter.
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