Celebrity Big Brother’s John Barnes slammed over homophobic remarks
The ex-footballer claims he wouldn't be friends with Andrew if he ever took things to another level with Courtney
By Joshua Haigh
Celebrity Big Brother contestant John Barnes has been slammed by viewers over a conversation with Courtney Act.
The former footballer was discussing Andrew Brady’s close friendship with the Drag Race star when he appeared to claim that he would no longer be friends with the Apprentice hunk if he ever took things further with Courtney.
Speaking about Andrew, Courtney said: “Sometimes somebody can have a little taste of something that–”
John quickly interrupted, saying: “Kick them out of the club. Kick them out of the club.”
In a later coversation when Courtney tried to clarify his remarks, John claimed that straight men are uncomfortable around gay men because they assume that they’re being sexualised.
He explained: “I know it shouldn’t be that way… men are comfortable just being in a room with a woman, not in a sexual way, because they don’t think, ‘she wants to have sex with me’ but with gays they are uncomfortable with a gay man because they assume that with a gay man, he’s definitely going to want to have sex with me, rather than thinking, just like with a woman, ‘why would he want to have sex with me?’
“That’s why men are uncomfortable with gay men because in the back of their minds they’re thinking, ‘he’s looking at me thinking I wonder what he looks like with his clothes off’. They think that about all men.
“They’re not thinking, ‘you find me attractive’. They’re thinking, ‘you’re going to make a move on me’.
“There’s this uncomfortable feeling that he’s going to pounce on me. They’re thinking you’re going to make a move on me, you’re going to touch me.”
Attempting to justify his comments, Barnes added: “I’m that way because everything I’ve been saying here is about being a product of the way I’ve been brought up and things we know to be wrong, we can’t help thinking that” – a justification that did not go down well with fans of the show, many of whom labelled him “homophobic”: