TV Host Invents Incredibly Stupid New Gay Stereotype

A TV host is getting flak after inventing a new—and incredibly stupid—gay stereotype. During the Dec. 23 episode of Amazon's The Grand Tour, co-host Richard Hammond said there's just something gay about a "grown man eating an ice cream," the BBC reports. According to BuzzFeed the hosts of the car show were discussing some sort of fancy Rolls Royce in front of a studio audience when Hammond says he doesn't eat ice cream because he's straight. The comment was—oddly—cheered by the studio audience, the Guardian reports. But co-host Jeremy Clarkson seemed taken aback and asked if Hammond believes all kids—being notorious ice cream eaters—are gay. (Video of Hammond's comments here.)

Hammond's bizarre statement was quickly met with condemnation and mockery from LGBT advocates and the internet. "It's a perverse world when everyday pleasures like ice cream become the butt of homophobic innuendo," one advocate says. LGBT rights group Stonewall adds: "Hammond's choice of words were not just ridiculous, but chosen purposefully to mock and belittle." Neither Hammond nor the producers of The Grand Tour have commented. However, one social media user may have put it best: "'Ice cream is gay' might be the worst opinion I've ever heard and I'm on Twitter." (More ice cream stories.)