GB News accused of ‘inciting violence’ towards LGBTQ+ people with ‘put them all down’ comment
Adam Brooks called for human pups to be “put down” on GB News
A GB News pundit has called for a group of people who enjoy animal role-play to be “put down”, after video footage showed hundreds of human pups at a meet-up in Berlin.
A “puppy” is the term for a human who takes on a canine personality and engages in “puppy play”, where they may enter a canine headspace for a short period of time – such as to relax and unwind – or even live their life 24/7 in the identity.
Puppy play can be a sexual, romantic or platonic identity, puppyplay.net explains, saying there is “no wrong way to be a pup”.
While anyone can be a pup, the community is particularly popular with gay men and wider members of the LGBTQ+ community.
During the segment, under-fire presenter Dan Wootton showed a video clip of about 1,000 human pups gathered at Berlin Potsdamer Platz railway station. In the footage, the group are howling and barking for the camera.
“Hundreds of people who identify as dogs have gathered in Berlin, communicating by barking and howling at each other,” Wootton said.
“Now you might think this is barking mad, because it is, but if we throw the woke mob a bone, scenes like that will soon become common place.”
In response, pundit Adam Brooks chimed in: “We need to put them all down.”
Wootton then said: “Adam, you called for a mass slaughter.” Which brought Brooks’ reply of “Them idiots, yeah.”
Despite laughing, Wootton pointed out: “We obviously do not support violence of humans identifying as dogs.”
Brooks’ comment was quickly criticised on social media, with many people taking to X, formerly Twitter, to say they had reported GB News to the broadcasting overseers Ofcom.
“Only people who have never been the target of violence because of who they are can make ‘jokes’ like this,” LGBTQ+ activist Thomas Willett wrote.
“Homophobia at its worst. GB News and Adam Brooks are directly inciting violence against the LGBTQ+ community at a time when LGBTQ+ hostility is already high.”
Another person said: “Pretty sure the heterosexual community have their own fetishises that GB News would clutch their pearls at….but no, let’s choose the LGBT+ minority group given no right to reply.”
A third added: “Why are these people so fixated on minority groups finding joy. All this hate towards people who impact their lives in no way just astounds me. How is this even news? Live and let live.”
In March, during the channel’s “alternative Match of the Day“ segment, another host spouted casual homophobia on air.
The right-wing channel’s attempted sports coverage came amid the row over MOTD presenter Gary Lineker criticising the government’s “cruel and inhumane” anti-refugee asylum policy, in which he compared home secretary Suella Braverman’s language to that of 1930s Germany. It had no football footage to show.
At the time, the BBC said Lineker would be taking a break from presenting the football highlights show, following the comments, which resulted in fellow presenters showing solidarity by refusing to appear that night.
A clip shared on X of GB News’ sports segment showed presenter Patrick Christys calling Lineker “a rabid lefty” before suggesting he must “quite like Brighton because it’s full of rainbow flags and woke people”.
More recently, in August, two of the channel’s personalities, Albie Amankona and Bushra Shaikh, clashed on social media after the latter appeared to compare being gay to being a pedophile.
In a post on X, the former The Apprentice contestant wrote that she would “never teach my kids that homosexuality or transgenderism is normal”. Her stance was “not homophobic”, she argued.
“Nobody is born gay. It is a choice. Nobody is born a pedo either right… both are wrong.”
The rant was called out by Amankona, who is gay, accusing her of saying “stupid things for attention, a few TV hits and followers”.
Shaikh hit back by saying: “I know you’re gay Albie and will feel attacked by this tweet. However, my position will not change,” before suggesting that Islamophobic sentiment is acceptable due to freedom of speech and therefore homophobia should be, too.
“It’s the equivalent of me being targeted daily for being a Muslim. Freedom of expression will also include the things we do not like.”
Her stance was also seemingly mocked by gay right-wing pundit and Daily Mail columnist Andrew Pierce, while hosting a separate debate on GB News.
PinkNews has contacted GB News for comment.
