The Grand Tour co-presenter Richard Hammond has once again landed himself in hot water over comments on the LGBTQ community.
The star questioned in a new interview why people "feel the need" to publicly come out, and responded to the controversy over his past comments that 'ice cream is gay' too.
"It may be because I live in a hideously safe and contained middle-class world, where a person's sexuality is not an issue, but when I hear of people in the media coming out, I think, why do they even feel the need to mention it?" Hammond told The Sunday Times.
"It is so old-fashioned to make a big deal of it. That isn't even an interesting thing to say at a dinner party any more."
Of course, it wasn't long before his comments were picked up by social media users, and they weren't very happy with what the TV presenter had to say (and used strong language to prove it):
Hammond made the comment after responding to criticism over his comments on The Grand Tour season one that linked enjoying ice cream to being homosexual.
The moment happened in episode six, when Jeremy Clarkson pointed out that you couldn't enjoy a chocolate Magnum in a Rolls Royce because of the cream interiors.
"That's alright, I don't eat ice cream," Hammond replied. "I think it's something to do with being straight."
Viewers once again turned to social media to criticise the comments at the time, but Hammond has now told The Sunday Times that he didn't mean to cause offence.
"It was certainly not what I set out to do," he said. "I wouldn't want to cause genuine difficulty for anyone. But if it's mock fury, pantomime fury, from people looking to take offence, then…
"Look, anyone who knows me knows I wasn't being serious, that I'm not homophobic. Love is love, whatever the sex of the two people in love."
