Richard Hammond has said he finds accusations of homophobia aimed at The Grand Tour ābloody annoyingā.
The Amazon Prime show has frequently been called out for controversial comments made by hosts Richard, Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
However, Richard insists āpeople are always lookingā to be offended as the trio are ānot remotely homophobicā.
![Richard Hammond](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5de2515d1f0000dc1adf0002.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
In an interview with Metro, he said: āThe criticism is just bloody annoying. We are not remotely homophobic! If someone takes something as homophobicā¦ I donāt want to cause offence. To say, āoh we need to be really careful not to be homophobicā would say that we are, so weāre not going to try and set out to avoid that sort of thing because weāre not.
āBut to be honest, people are always looking for it.ā
He continued: āI think sometimes other people are ready to be offended on other peopleās behalf and I donāt think you should be allowed to be if somethingās not directed at you; you canāt be offended by proxy.ā
![Richard with The Grand Tour co-hosts Jeremy Clarkson and James May](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5de2519f2500009927d2eb6f.jpeg?cache=xVoo9uj0sq&ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
Richard was on the receiving end of a backlash in 2016 when he joked that his dislike of ice cream had āsomething to do with being straightā.
āIce cream is a bit, you know,ā he said. āThereās nothing wrong with it, but a grown man eating an ice cream... itās that way, rather than that way.ā
But Richard appeared to stand by the joke in the same interview.
He said: āOne bloke tweeted me saying, āIs your masculinity so fragile?ā Wait Wait, wait ā are you saying a gay man canāt be masculine?ā. Call my agent, heās gay and heās the toughest, most masculine man Iāve met in my life.
āPeople have to think about more before they leap to the bandwagon and get offended by things because quite often it isnāt.
He added: āBut the only other thing Iād say about that is itās quite easy to forget I live in a privileged bubble where in my world my family, my wife, my daughters ā nobody is homophobic, theyāre just not.ā
Richard previously ran into trouble when he attempted to defend his ice cream comments after he said he didnāt understand why people come out publicly.
āWhen I hear of people in the media coming out, I think, why do they even feel the need to mention it?ā he said.
āIt is so old-fashioned to make a big deal of it. That isnāt even an interesting thing to say at a dinner party any more.ā
People on Twitter wasted no time explaining to Richard why it is still incredibly important for LGBTQ people to speak about their sexuality.
LGBTQ rights advocate Peter Tatchell previously accused Richard of āpandering to prejudiceā in an interview with the BBC, following the āice creamā incident.
āItās a perverse world when everyday pleasures like ice cream becomes the butt of homophobic innuendo,ā he said.
HuffPost UKās Daniel Welsh also penned in blog on the topic, calling for Richard to consider that āall of his words have weight and consequenceā.
The Grand Tour was also criticised by singer Will Young earlier this year after it aired a scene in which Jeremy, James and Richard suggested that a Jeep Wrangler was a car for gay men, before wheeling out a number of tired stereotypes.
āItās fucking pathetic and actually homophobic,ā Will wrote in a series of impassioned tweets. āHow DARE you, you obtuse, bigoted immature babies of men.ā
The Grand Tour returns to Amazon Prime Video on 13 December.