Last month, presenter Josh Howie was met with a wave of controversy during a discussion about the speech Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, made in a service after Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Urging the newly re-elected president to “have mercy on people in our country who are scared now”, Budde’s speech specifically made reference to LGBTQ+ Americans, “some who fear for their lives”, as well as migrants currently living in the US.
“The church that she belongs to, the Diocese, it talks about the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons,” Howie told GB News viewers the following day, before declaring: “I just want to say that includes paedos.”
Howie’s remarks linking the LGBTQ+ community with paedophilia were widely condemned, with the political non-profit group the Good Law Project setting up a complaints petition which it intends to present to Ofcom next week.
The media regulator confirmed to Metro they’ve now received 1,227 complaints, about Howie’s comments almost 1,000 of which were made in the last week.
“Complaints alleged a comment by the host linked LGBT+ members of a church with paedophilia,” a spokesperson noted.
The Good Law Project’s campaign is also racking up complaints which will be passed over to Ofcom on Monday 17 February. At the time of writing, their total number of signatories stands at 63,356.
While Howie’s initial comments aired live on 22 January, he eventually addressed the ensuing backlash on air earlier this week.
Howie claimed that he was joking when he made his remark, alleging that, in his view, he was speaking in support of the LGBTQ+ community as there is “no definitive list of who is included in the Q and the Q+” and “for some people the full inclusion of the LBGTQ+ includes paedophiles”.
“I can see why some people might think I was being homophobic, when in fact, I was being the opposite,” he continued, apologising to anyone “who thought I was making an offensive comment”.
GB News had no comment when contacted by HuffPost UK.
Were Ofcom to take action, it wouldn’t be the first time the divisive news station found itself in hot water with the watchdog.
Last year, GB News was slapped with a hefty fine after broadcasting a so-called “people’s forum” with former prime minister Rishi Sunak in the lead-up to the general election, which was found to be in breach of impartiality guidelines for a news network.
In 2023, it also sparked an investigation following a live broadcast in which former contributor Laurence Fox launched into a sexist tirade against a female journalist during an appearance on Dan Wootton’s now-defunct evening show.
Ofcom eventually ruled that this had also breached its guidelines, as did a separate live show fronted by ex-Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, for which the station was later put “on notice”.