Jim Davidson: I’m not homophobic, I have gay friends and I support equal marriage
Jim Davidson says he’s not homophobic and that he supports same-sex marriage.
The controversial comedian has praised the Scottish Government for legalising the measure saying it levels “the playing field”.
“I think that’s very good,” Davidson said in a newspaper interview. “I shared a house with a gay man for a while and I also remember when one of my gay friends’ partners died a good few years back there were all sorts of problems with the will.
“So of course gay people should be allowed to be married. It’s great. And why should straight people suffer on their own?”
In 2007, Davidson walked out of ITV1′s Hell’s Kitchen after a row with fellow contestant Brian Dowling, which saw the gay former Big Brother host break down in tears.
It was after Davidson started a conversation about “shirt-lifters”.
Speaking to the Daily Record, the 60-year-old denied suggestions of homophobia.
“I’m not homophobic,” he said. “All that probably comes from me saying what I said to Brian Dowling. If people want to say that’s homophobic, let them. It’s ridiculous. I know what I am and all my gay friends know what I am.”
Davidson added: “If I cured AIDS, rid the world of malaria and fed the whole of Africa, I’d still be that racist, sexist, homophobic comedian.”
“It doesn’t matter to me what people think. It bothers me if they laugh or don’t laugh. Or if they put your name up in the theatre and they don’t come.”
The former Generation Game host won Celebrity Big Brother last month.
He was due to have been in the 2013 series but was arrested and accused of historic sex offences before the case was dropped.
In December 2012, Davidson revealed that he once had sex with a “lady-boy” and claimed that this proved that he was not homophobic.
