News & Opinion
Matt Lucas Blasts BBC for Stereotyping Gay Men
Lucas is calling out gay TV presenter Evan Davis for saying that Tinder allows straight people to ‘behave like gay men.’
August 14 2015 11:33 AM EST
November 02 2015 10:06 PM EST
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Lucas is calling out gay TV presenter Evan Davis for saying that Tinder allows straight people to ‘behave like gay men.’
Once again, Tinder has landed a guy in a whole heap of trouble.
While presenting a segment about dating app Tinder for BBC's Newsnight, gay TV host Evan Davis made an offhand and rather tone-deaf comment about social media sensation.
While speaking over the College Humor viral short "Tinderella: A Modern Fairy Tale," Davis gave a rather ham-fisted intro to the swipe left/swipe right dating platform.
"For the uninitiated, Tinder is the biggest of a number of apps that allow straight people of any gender to behave like gay men," said Davis, loafer in mouth.
"It's an easy hook-up service. You upload your profile, and scroll through others, to find someone to meet."
"It's love at first swipe. Swipe left for the ones you don't like, swipe right for the folks you're interested in.. and then if the feeling's mutual, you can message each other and take it from there."
Oof.
The segment was in response to Tinder's Twitter meltdown over Nancy Jo Sales' Vanity Fair article "Tinder and the Dawn of the 'Dating Apocalypse.'"
The joke was an obvious dig at Grindr, which was on the vanguard of mobile hook-up apps for gay men.
Little Britain's Matt Lucas, who famously played Daffyd: the only gay in the village, on the sketch comedy program, was none too pleased with Davis' remark, taking to Twitter and calling it "Pathetic from the BBC."
Pathetic from the BBC. https://t.co/0eOMcRdRu6
-- Matt Lucas (@RealMattLucas) August 12, 2015
This is not the first time Davis has stepped in it with regard to the gay community.
In February, he suggested "gays take more drugs because they don't have kids" and implied the gay community as a whole lacks discipline.
Funnily enough, Lucas has said that he has been on some Tinder dates, noting that for gay men Tinder leads to proper dates while Grindr just for sex.
As of yet there is no response from the BBC, Newsnight, or Davis.
[h/t Pink News]