Nigel Farage defends Reform UK Scottish leader’s George Michael ‘joke’
Nigel Farage defended Malcom Offord’s George Michael Joke (Getty Images)
Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage has defended Malcolm Offord for an offensive joke he made about the late George Michael’s grieving boyfriend, Fadi Fawaz.
Offord, who is the Scottish leader of the party, made the comment in 2018 while giving a speech at a Burns Night event at the London Scottish rugby club. The comments made headlines last week when an eyewitness shared details about what happened.
Farage defended the comments at the launch of Reform UK’s local English election campaign in Sunderland on 26 March.
“If we’re going to drum people out of public life for telling a joke at a boozy rugby club dinner that’s amongst friends, we’ll finish up with the dullest group of individuals, looking a bit like, sounding a bit like Keir Starmer,” he said as per the BBC, taking at swing at the Prime Minister.
“When you take something as it is, yeah of course, it looks awful,” he continued, adding that Offord had “probably regretted doing it”. “This sort of po-faced, purism attitude to anything anyone’s ever said when they’re with a group of mates, frankly, is ridiculous.”
What did Offord say?
Ian Lewer, who was an eyewitness to the comments in 2018, told the Daily Record what had happened.
“The speech itself was a bizarre attempt to link the songs of the late George Micheal to the works of Robert Burns, interspersed with clips of some of his famous hits accompanied by Offord’s questionable dancing,” Lewer said. “The fact he was clearly intoxicated added another awkward dimension to the experience.”
The Record did not publish the “joke” in “the interests of taste”.
“I was sitting next to a gay man and it was clearly an extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant experience for him,” Lewer continued.
“I’m not a prude, I’m up for banter. But there is banter and taking things to that level. I don’t know who in their right mind would say something like that. It is utterly bizarre that anyone would get up and make a speech in a room with 200 people and say something like that.”
Offord’s apology
Offord apologised for the “inappropriate joke” himself last week, and insisted that he was “not homophobic”, the BBC reported. He also donated to an LGBTQ+ charity as a result.
“I instantly regretted it and recognised that it was totally inappropriate and took responsibility for what I had said,” he said.
“This was a clumsy mistake that I immediately acknowledged and acted upon. I am not homophobic. I am someone who accepts accountability, owns my actions, and makes amends where needed. That is who I am.”
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
