BBC Forced to Defend Gay Kiss After Complaints

[TimeLord]

"The BBC has has to defend a gay kiss on Holby City, just a week after more than 100 viewers complained about a gay scene in EastEnders."

There are two parts of the article that is linked below that I find anger inducing.

"Viewers complained that a kiss between Dan Hamilton (Adam Astill) and Antoine Malick (Jimmy Akingbola) was ?inappropriate?."
and
"One viewer complained that it could ?confuse? children."

Props to the BBC for actually including gay characters in their shows, but having to defend showing them to the public just boggles my mind. Especially that second comment about "confusing children". Children shouldn't be confined to a bubble world where everything is safe and normal. Newsflash complainers; gay people exist and are just like you!

-30 Faith in Humanity

Source: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/06/17/bbc-now-has-to-defend-holby-city-gay-kiss/ via Logan Westbrook's Twitter/Escapist Water Cooler

EDIT: Several people have brought up Doctor Who and Torchwood, both of which are also shown by the BBC. Both of which show Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) kissing the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and having a very unsubtle gay relationship with Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) in Torchwood.

 

[Bribase]

Children are more than capable of dealing with the idea that some people like to kiss people of the same gender as themselves.

Adults that act like children on the other hand...

 

[Gabanuka]

+10 television for the BBC to show it even though they know how many people would complain. I think channel 4 got the same shit storm after a gay kiss in that Toast thing.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Homophobia is still going strong, I see. Confusing children? How about broadening their perspectives? Something I doubt their parents will do.

 

[The Funslinger]

Meh, children watch Doctor Who, and John Barrowman snogged Christopher Ecclestone in fairly short order.

 

[Dorian6]

Wow. I guess none of these people have seen Doctor Who in the past 6 years

 

[TheIronRuler]

When I saw that, 'Cpt. Jack Harkins' popped into my head for a moment.
He shares a kiss with another bloke somewhere in my mind, I can't remember where I saw that.
I respect the BBC for having the balls to defend what they throwed in the air, and not backing down from it like little children. Assuming that the BBC is a male.
Now I need to get back to my Shnitzels on the flying pan.

 

[Sam Eskenazi]

Good god... really?

I watch EastEnders and the gay scene was literally just their bare chest lying in bed, obviously post-sex. Who cares? A recent episode had a similar scene, but with a heterosexual couple, and that didn't recieve complaints, now did it?

 

[TimeLord]

Meh, children watch Doctor Who, and John Barrowman snogged Christopher Ecclestone in fairly short order.

Yeah! Captain Jack doesn't mess around! It only took him 3 episodes to do it. Female companions have waited far longer to do that! *cough*Tookyou4seriesRoseTyler*cough*

 

[The Cheezy One]

Reminds me of this [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1152466/One-armed-presenter-scaring-children-parents-tell-BBC.html]. Lets just make children think that people different from 'normal' are scary and wrong!

EDIT: I'd like to say that the reason this is Daily Mail is because it was the first think that came up. I'm not racist!

-30 Faith in Humanity

Ooh, is that like 30 seconds to Mars?

 

[kzeelio]

"Holby City aims to reflect real life in the setting of a medical drama..."

They're complaining about the show "confusing children"? This doesn't sound like a children's show.

Imagine how much more confused a child will be if they see two gay people kissing after years of their parents keeping them in a bubble world where gay people don't exist.

And I do respect the BBC for defending their show.

 

[Ninjamedic]

Time for another lecture from the almighty Brooker (different topic, but the principles the same)


And as for these complainers themselves....

 

[TimeLord]

When I saw that, 'Cpt. Jack Harkins' popped into my head for a moment.
He shares a kiss with another bloke somewhere in my mind, I can't remember where I saw that.
I respect the BBC for having the balls to defend what they throwed in the air, and not backing down from it like little children. Assuming that the BBC is a male.
Now I need to get back to my Shnitzels on the flying pan.

He kisses Eccleston in Doctor Who. And has an openly gay relationship with Ianto Jones in Torchwood.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

All I am going to say is why are young kids watching Eastenders and Holby City anyway?

 

[electric_warrior]

Kids should be confused sometimes. Confusion forces you to think about an issue so as to understand it and find greater clarity. I wish there was a greater drive to confuse people, maybe it would shake their complacency away a little more.

 

[Mr Thin]

125 complaints? I think that's pretty damn good, really.

I mean, how many people would've seen that episode? I'd imagine 125 is but a small fraction of that.

I'm not justifying it, I'm just pointing out that these complainers, whilst annoying, are clearly not the majority. And that that's a good thing.

 

[Prince Regent]

After watching the first season of Torchwood I thought that everyone in Britain was omnisexual, very confusing ^^.

Turns out that's only the case in mediocore Doctor Who spinoffs.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Aw...from the title I was expected that they found BBC in bed with CNN or something.

Anyway...125 viewers complained. Out of all the thousands or millions to have seen that episode, 125 of them felt like complaining. I think the media are overstating the problem.

Yes, it's not good that anyone feels threatened by this, but it's a tiny number. I wouldn't be surprised if the show got more complaints for not showing how the lizard people secretly run everything.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

I wonder what percentage of the shows viewers the complaints represent? less than half a percent, I BET!