Culture

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings ‘outs gay teen’

Mar 15 2012
Written by Stephen Gray

A teenager has accused Channel 4 of outing him to after his parents recognised him kissing another man on its hit show My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.

The boy, 16, had kissed traveller Mikey unaware there were cameras nearby. He told the Daily Star he had asked producers not to use the footage but they used it anyway, blurring his face.

He told the paper: “My parents saw it and recognised me. Now everyone knows I’m gay. I feel exploited.

“Coming out should have been my choice, not Channel 4’s.”

The programme makers had been filming Mikey at Manchester Pride when he met the teenager and they shared a kiss.

He said he had pleaded with producers not to show the footage.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: “The individual asked not to be identified on screen and we were happy to accommodate the request and blurred him from the programme.”

The boy said: “The last thing I wanted was to be outed on national TV.

“But that’s exactly what they have done. I am gay but I wasn’t ready to tell my family yet.

“It should have been my choice when to let them know. This is my worst nightmare come true. My parents could easily tell that was me on telly.They’re devastated.

“I feel my rights have been violated. I feel sick. That silly attempt to blur my face wasn’t going to stop people recognising me.”