Paul Glynn
Culture reporter
During an episode of Headliners which aired on 22 January, while discussing a sermon given by a US bishop, presenter Josh Howie appeared to suggest the LGBT community included paedophiles.
Howie has since said his programme is a comedy show and his comment was intended as a “joke about paedophilia in the church”.
The number of complaints could rise after The Good Law Project said it had gathered more than 60,000 names in an online petition against “dangerous disinformation about LGBTQ+ people”.
The organisation said it would deliver the complaints it has collated in one batch to Ofcom next week.
GB News said Howie’s comments had been “misrepresented”, adding that the network takes its broadcasting responsibilities “very seriously”.
In the episode, Howie discussed a recent sermon given by the episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, at a service attended by Donald Trump.
In the service, she implored the newly-inaugurated US President “to have mercy” on gay, lesbian and transgender children “who fear for their lives”.
During the GB News programme, Howie quoted a statement issued by the bishop’s church which backs “the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons”.
He then suggested that that community included paedophiles, “if you’re doing the full inclusion there”.
Following the backlash, Howie posted a lengthy statement on X, writing that his programme is a “comedy show where three comedians make jokes as we review the next day’s newspapers”.
He noted the three comics on the programme came from “across the political spectrum, all providing a different take on the story”.
Howie said his comment was a joke which connected the sermon to the “wrong ‘uns in the [church] that [Budde] was seemingly advocating for”.
He added that the seven-second clip which has been circulated did not provide the full context because it cut off his subsequent comments, which, he said, “made clear that I’m talking about the [church] end of the scale”.
“The point, my intent, the context, are all much clearer with those words included,” he said. “And a deliberate and conscious choice was made to cut them out because it didn’t fit what they wanted to pretend I meant. As opposed to what I actually said.”
The online complaints collated by The Good Law Project will be handed in to Ofcom’s London head office in person on Monday.
If Ofcom recognises them, it could mark the highest number of complaints ever submitted to the regulator about a single programme.
However, the watchdog told BBC News that its audience complaints figures only “reflect individual complaints made directly to [Ofcom] via our official complaints process”, suggesting that the complaints gathered for the online petition may not be counted in the same way.
An Ofcom spokeswoman told the BBC on Wednesday that it was currently “carefully assessing” the 1,227 official complaints that had been made since the show aired “and the content before we decide whether to investigate”.
“We are aware of an online petition about this programme and will look closely at this once received,” she said.
“The number of signatories to this petition will be noted in our Broadcast Bulletin, once we have made our decision.
“We consider each and every complaint made to us carefully, but the number of complaints about a programme does not determine whether we will investigate.”
The previous official record of 58,000 complaints concerned Piers Morgan’s comments about Meghan Markle made on Good Morning Britain in 2021. ITV was ultimately cleared by Ofcom, which rejected the complaints.
The Good Law Project argues that GB News violated Ofcom’s code, which states broadcasters must protect the public from harmful and offensive material.
“Josh Howie’s comments were shocking, spreading dangerous disinformation about LGBTQ+ people,” said Jolyon Maugham, executive director of the Good Law Project.
“They should have been challenged and then disowned by GB News. Instead, Mr Howie was encouraged by GB News to double down.
“It’s no wonder that so many people have joined Good Law Project to express their outrage – making this the biggest complaint Ofcom has ever dealt with. Ofcom must act now to stop them spreading hate.”
The campaign organisation underlined how false comparisons between the LGBTQ+ community and paedophiles were recently described by one High Court judge as being “one of the oldest, most pernicious and most stubbornly ineradicable falsities or myths of homophobia”.
A GB News spokesman said there had been “a deliberate and orchestrated campaign” by the Good Law Project, who “misrepresent the programme and we encourage people to watch it in its entirety”.
They added: “GB News chooses to be regulated by Ofcom and takes its regulatory and compliance obligations very seriously.”
