GB News host spouts casual homophobia in ‘alternative’ Match of the Day broadcast
In GB News’ ‘alternative’ Match of the Day broadcast, presenter Patrick Christys made a homophobic comment. (GB News, screenshot PinkNews)
Controversial right-wing television channel GB News offered a cringeworthy “alternative” Match of the Day broadcast on Saturday night that included casual homophobia and no actual football.
The BBC’s flagship Saturday sports highlights programme ran with no presenters or pundits and was cut to a run time of 20 minutes.
Today’s MOTD2 is expected to be similarly reduced due to the continuing row over presenter Gary Lineker’s tweet criticising the government’s “cruel and inhumane” anti-refugee asylum policy and comparing the home secretary Suella Braverman’s language to 1930s Germany.
GB News decided to run its own “alternative” to Match of the Day on Saturday (11 March), which saw Twitter users offer praise for reminding them “how brilliant” the BBC’s real MOTD usually is and describing it as “car crash TV”.
The GB News offering was compared to the 1994 satirical programme The Day Today – which parodies television news and current affairs shows and features Steve Coogan as his iconic Alan Partridge character.
In a clip shared on Twitter, presenter Patrick Christys calls Lineker “a rabid lefty” and suggests he must “quite like Brighton because it’s full of rainbow flags and woke people”.
Social media users have been quick to express anger at the homophobia present in Christys’ “joke”, with TV critic Scott Bryan writing: “By the way, the ‘alternative’ MOTD on GB News last night criticising Brighton for having ‘rainbow flags’ is homophobia. I can’t spin it any other way.”
Presenter Patrick Christys tweeted on Sunday morning about how great GB News’ alternative Match of the Day was, calling it “the most mental, hilarious, loveably calamitous, completely cobbled together bit of magic I’ve ever been a part of”.
“I’ve never had that much fun on telly,” he said.
This weekend, GB News was also criticised for airing claims that parents who take their children to a drag queen story hour have “narcissistic personality disorder”.
On Thursday (9 March), Press Gazette reported that GB News had made losses ten times greater than its revenue for its first year on air.
Its Companies House accounts reveal losses of £31m in its first year on combined advertising and digital revenues of £3.6m, but its directors reportedly remain “satisfied” with where the broadcaster stands.
