Will Young has threatened to report The Grand Tour to Ofcom after receiving no reply to his complaint about homophobic jokes used in the new series.
The singer had accused the Amazon Prime series, which is fronted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, of making “repulsive” remarks at the expense of the LGBT+ community.
Will specifically called out comments that suggested a Jeep Wrangler was a car for gay men, before the hosts wheeled out a number of tired stereotypes.
But after tweeting the Amazon Prime Twitter account with his concerns and failing to receive a response, Will is now contacting the broadcasting watchdog with his concerns.
He tweeted: “No word from @PrimeVideo so @Ofcom beckons. Enough is enough and I’m pissed and fed up.
“I want Amazonprime and the producers of grand tour to meet young lgbt who want to kill themselves because of shaming and laughter and normalising of shaming homophobic narratives. Your time is up and it’s time to take a stand. Is there a legal case ? Who knows . ……. watch this space.”
However, Ofcom is unlikely to investigate Will’s complaint as Amazon Prime and other streaming services are not subject to their Broadcasting Code.
That said, their programmes must abide by a set of minimum standards under European law.
In his initial tweets, Will wrote: “Screw them and the show and Amazon… for putting this shaming archaic [tripe] out.
“@AmazonPrimenow it’s insulting and they can’t rest on laurels of ‘oh we are just politically incorrect’ It’s sad and shaming , bigoted and for fucks sake grow up.
“How dare they stereotype gay men. I DON’T drive a Wrangler Jeep. I DON’T wear pink shirts . I DON’T wear arseless chaps. You can be honest and funny without this ridiculous ‘lad’ ooh being gay and let’s laugh about it mentality. It’s repulsive and how DARE you do it and put it out.”
Clarkson, who used to present the BBC’s Top Gear alongside Hammond and May, has meanwhile brushed off the controversy on Twitter.
Replying to someone complaining who said their “homophobic jokes have to stop”, he said: “What homophobic jokes?”
Representatives for The Grand Tour declined to comment when contacted by HuffPost UK.
In 2016, The Grand Tour’s Richard Hammond faced accusations of homophobia, over a segment on the show in which he suggested that eating ice cream was reserved for gay men only.
He later received a backlash when he admitted he didn’t understand why LGBT+ people still “feel the need” to come out.
More recently, Jeremy Clarkson – who has faced his own backlashes over his use of racist and transphobic language in the past – dismissed the idea that he and his co-presenters had ever been sexist on their shows.
