Richard Hammond defends ‘joke’ that ice cream is only for gays

Former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has defended a joke he made almost a year ago that ice cream is only for gay people.

He has also said he questions why LGBT people feel the need to come out publicly in the media.

The popular Top Gear and The Grand Tour presenter made the bizarre remarks in the show’s boxing Day episode.

Fellow host Jeremy Clarkson commented that you couldn’t enjoy a Magnum while inside a Rolls Royce, pointing to a photo of its pristine interior.

Hammond then responded by saying: “It’s alright, I don’t eat ice cream”.

He added: “It’s something to do with being straight.”

A senior officer in the British Army since cited the joke in a warning that that LGBT people in the armed forces still face “ingrained prejudice”.

But now, speaking to the Times, Hammond has defended the joke almost a year after it was made.

He tells the Times: “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.

“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?