Coronation Street star hits back at ‘homophobes’ blasting show for gay kiss

Daniel Brocklebank has hit back at fans who complained when his character Billy Mayhew kissed Todd Grimshaw.

In last night’s episode of the ITV soap, Billy and Todd (Bruno Langley) checked into a hotel together, before kissing passionately.

Despite some fans praising the scene, other viewers took to Twitter to blast the show for its “sickening” scenes before watershed.

“Homosexual scenes in #Corrie tonight were sickening. Most now tolerate this practice but we don’t need it rammed down our throats,” one fan wrote.

Another angry viewer added: “#corrie let’s hope they finish during the adverts! No more gay action please!”

However, other fans were not impressed with the backlash, with many leaping to the show’s defence and labelling the disgruntled viewers “homophobes” and “bigots”.

One user said: “The gayest and campest show, conceived and written by a gay man. Offended? Then p**s off!”

Daniel Brocklebank – who plays gay vicar Billy – later thanked his fans as he addressed the negative reaction to the kiss.

“So many lovely, supportive & hilarious tweets about tonight’s @itvcorrie!,” he tweeted.

“Plus only a few from the homophobes! Maybe we’re winning a little,” Brocklebank – who says he used to hate himself for being gay – added.

“Had many angry tweets saying ‘I’m disgusted my kids saw men kiss on tv’

“I’m disgusted they left it up tv to teach their kids how love works.”

Sadly, this isn’t the isn’t the first time the show has been criticised for featuring a gay kiss.

Just last month, Ofcom rejected 67 complaints about another kiss between Todd and Billy.

An airing on July 8 attracted 26 complaints citing ‘Generally accepted standards’, while an airing on July 11 attracted a further 41 complaints about standards.

There were 6 additional complaints categorised as ‘Religious/Beliefs discrimination/offence’, presumably also referring to the storyline.

• Dec 31 2024

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