Richard Hammond Gets Schooled After Saying He Doesn't Understand Why LGBT+ People Come Out Publicly

The people of Twitter have given Richard an education.
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Richard Hammond has been given a lesson from the LGBT+ community, after claiming he doesn’t understand why people come out publicly. 

The ‘Grand Tour’ presenter said he believes it’s “old fashioned” to “make a big deal out of” a person’s sexuality, as he attempted to defend a controversial joke he made earlier this year

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Richard Hammond
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While speaking about the fact he joked that his dislike of ice cream had “something to do with being straight”, Richard turned his attention to the wider LGBT+ community and coming out. 

“Look, anyone who knows me knows I wasn’t being serious, that I’m not homophobic. Love is love, whatever the sex of the two people in love,” he said. 

“It may be because I live in a hideously safe and contained middle-class world, where a person’s sexuality is not an issue. But when I hear of people in the media coming out, I think, why do they even feel the need to mention it?”

“It is so old-fashioned to make a big deal of it. That isn’t even an interesting thing to say at a dinner party any more.”

After his comments were picked up in the press, people on Twitter wasted no time explaining to Richard why it is still incredibly important for LGBT+ people to speak about their sexuality. 

LGBT+ rights advocate Peter Tatchell previously accused Richard of “pandering to prejudice” in an interview with the BBC, following the ‘ice cream’ incident. 

“It’s a perverse world when everyday pleasures like ice cream becomes the butt of homophobic innuendo,” he said.