GB News whines that brands are ‘scared’ of advertising with them

GB News is being urged to ‘reflect’ on the type of content it produces after a host complained about an advertising boycott yet again.

Presenter Nana Akua claimed during an episode of The Interview that potential advertisers were being “scared off” by human rights groups that argue the news and opinion channel is pushing division in the UK.

During an interview with former professional football coach, Steve Harrison, the 54-year-old said: “We’ve been through the whole thing where, you know, there was this [call], ‘Well, they’re horrible, don’t advertise with them’. Some were scared off from advertising on the channel.”

GB News has reportedly lost over £131 million since its launch in 2021 as major brands join a boycott started by the political pressure group Stop Funding Hate, which argued the channel uses “fear and division” to gain viewers.

The broadcaster has routinely come under fire for airing anti-LGBTQ+ views. Most notably was GB News host Josh Howie’s remark that the LGBTQ+ acronym includes “paedos,” as well as is on-air apology that denied the existence of trans people.

Stop Funding Hatemade a call to boycott the right-wing broadcaster in February 2021 – four months before the broadcaster officially launched – calling for prospective advertisers to pull support in the lead-up to its first broadcast.

Major brands including Ikea, Nivea and OVO Energy pulled advertising almost immediately following the channel’s launch, with many more pulling their sponsorships over the next few years.

During the broadcast, Harrison claimed that advertisers were “complicit” in the channel’s losses for “not standing up to Stop Funding Hate.”

Responding in a post on social media, the political pressure group called on GB News to “reflect on whether the content of GB News might explain this reluctance” for brands to advertise on the channel.

“We’ve seen time and time again that when enough of us speak out & urge advertisers to avoid GB News, companies will respond,” they added. “This only works because it’s also very clear how toxic an environment GB News is – advertisers can see that the public has a point and is right to be concerned.”

Akua’s comments came just a week after fellow GB News host Charlie Downes claimed she was not truly British, despite being born in Newcastle.

During a heated debate, Downes claimed that Akua was not truly British because, in his view, “there’s a difference between someone who has come here within the last five years and gotten themselves a passport and somebody like me whose family have been in this country for thousands of years.”

The pair clashed after Downes claimed that Britishness is not defined by a “set of abstract, corporate values like democracy,” claiming instead that it was defined by what he called the “ancient peoples” of Britain.

Akua responded by citing Cheddar Man – a Mesolithic human male whose skeleton was found in Cheddar Gorge and is believed to be the oldest complete skeleton of a human found in Britain. In 2018, DNA analysis found that Cheddar Man was Black.

After Downes said he disagreed because of his Christian beliefs, Akua responded: “You might believe that, but science says otherwise.”

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