Homophobic Twitter trolls blast Eastenders for featuring same-sex kiss scene
The decision of Eastenders to broadcast a scene with two male characters kissing generated a predicable torrent of homophobic abuse from a small mindless minority on Twitter.
A new storyline which sees Johnny Carter (played by Sam Strike) and Danny Pennant (played by Gary Lucy) kiss in Walford Square attracted numerous homophobic tweets on New Year’s Eve.
Some users on Twitter even called for the characters to be killed, whilst others said they would stop watching the soap if the storyline continued.
The BBC confirmed to PinkNews only two complaints were made about the kiss out of 7.4 million viewers.
The corporation said the decision to broadcast Eastenders at the later time of 9.30pm was not because of the kiss scene.
A spokeswoman said the show was only pushed back because it followed Shrek Forever After in the schedule and had nothing to do with the content.
“EastEnders aims to reflect real life, and this means including and telling stories about characters from many different backgrounds, faiths, religions and sexualities,” she added.
“We approach our portrayal of homosexual relationships in exactly the same way as we do heterosexual relationships; ensuring depictions of affection or sexuality between couples are suitable for pre-watershed viewing.”
