Good Morning Britain gay ‘cure’ segment breaks Ofcom complaints record
By Will Stroude
It’s been revealed that a segment on Good Morning Britain has broken the record for Ofcom complaints.
Last month, the ITV series came under fire after inviting a doctor who performs ‘gay cure’ therapy onto the show.
Dr Michael Davidson appeared on the breakfast program to discuss recent findings about the practice of the therapy in the UK, which involves counselling people to ‘reject’ their homosexuality.
During the interview, Davidson faced opposition from host Piers Morgan and fellow guest Josh Parry. However, the doctor claimed to be ‘ex-gay’ and that he had been married to a woman for 35 years.
The segment was quickly condemned by LGBT groups and Twitter users, and Ofcom received record-breaking levels of complaints. Reports have found that the episode attracted a whopping 1,121 complaints, making it the most complained about show this year.
Ofcom recorded a total of 672 complaints about the episode based on ‘Sexual orientation discrimination/offence’ and another 449 complaints on the grounds of ‘Due impartiality/bias.’
The number of complaints passes the 663 complaints made in an episode of Britain’s Got Talent this year in which Amanda Holden wore a revealing dress.
According to the Huffington Post, Ofcom received 103 complaints just three hours after the controversial segment aired.
Earlier this year, Brazilian judge Waldemar de Carvalho approved gay conversion therapy in Brazil, leading to a protest by thousands of people. 13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman also slammed the law, and supported the LGBT community by launching a fundraising t-shirt.
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