Activists' fury over 'anti-gay' joke

A gay rights group has called on the BBC to apologise for a gag about Sir Elton John that Dara O’Briain cracked on Have I Got News For You.

Activists at OutRage! are furious over the comment made by O’Briain, who was guest host of Friday's show, about Sir Elton's role writing the score for stage musical Billy Elliot.

"Elton sees a little bit of himself in Billy," the Irish comic said, referring to the fictional 11-year-old ballet dancer.

OutRage! called it "offensive" and "a cheap shot".

"Like everyone else, we can laugh at ourselves when jokes are fair," said the group’s Chas Newkey-Burden, “but jokes that tap into prejudices that cast all gay people as sexual predators and a threat to children are dangerous and irresponsible.”

“Sir Elton is in a committed long-term relationship. There has never been any suggestion that he’s interested in pre-pubescent boys. What Dara O’Briain implied is not a joke, it is a libellous slur and should never have been aired.

“Innuendos like these could damage a person’s career. They also fuel paranoid and bigoted reactions to all gay people and have the potential to fuel violent attacks.

“Mr O’Briain should be forced to apologise or he should be removed from participation in BBC programmes. The BBC should apologise both to Sir Elton and to the wider gay community.”

A BBC spokesman said the line came from a team of writers, but declined to comment further until OutRage! had made their former complaint.

Meanwhile, Scottish stand-up Mac Star is claiming O’Briain stole one of his jokes for the show.

He has written to O’Briain’s agents, Off The Kerb, threatening legal action over the use of a gag that Hitler would have been useless at rock-scissors-paper, given the Nazi salute, but that Hitler could have easily defeated him with his famous V-sign.

In his letter seeking an apology and compensation, Star said he had been performing the joke for more than two years and that O’Briain was guilty of a “blatant disregard of performers’ rights”

 “I am not in the least happy as it is one of my stronger gags and is a crowd pleaser,” he told O’Briain’s agents.

Brighton-based comic Stephen Grant also performed a similar joke as part of his show at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

A spokesman for O'Briain declined to comment.

Published: 18 May 2005