Richard Hammond has been criticised for linking eating ice cream with being gay on the latest episode of the Grand Tour, the motoring show he co-hosts with Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
The exchange occurred on Happy Finnish Christmas, the sixth episode of the first season of the Grand Tour, which broadcast on Amazon Prime on 23 December.
In front of a live audience, Clarkson pointed to an image of the interior of a Rolls Royce, saying: “The only problem is that in one of those, you couldn’t enjoy a chocolate Magnum ice cream.”
“It’s all right, I don’t eat ice cream,” replied Hammond. “It’s something to do with being straight.”
Clarkson and May appeared taken aback as members of the studio audience applauded and cheered.
“Why are you applauding him?” Clarkson, apparently aghast, asked the crowd. “What do you mean? … You’re saying all children are homosexual?”
Hammond dug further into his opinion that “ice cream is a bit – you know”, adding: “There’s nothing wrong with it, but a grown man eating an ice cream – it’s that way, rather than that way… I’m right. I can’t believe you can’t see that. It’s easy. It’s in front of you.”
Clarkson and Hammond then joked about “the chocolate thingy” in a 99 ice cream cone, with the latter declaring: “My case rests!”
The exchange was met with disdain on Twitter. “Excuse me while I gag on my Cornetto,” tweeted Olly Alexander, the lead singer of the British electronic pop trio Years & Years.
7 comments
Oh! For crying out loud…
Subconsciously I must have been in agreement with Hammond all these years that there is no way can you look butch eating an ice cream. As an adult male (defined as 21+) I have never had one. I loved it as a child.
Bet Clarkson told him to say it !
as its not on free to air Tv the Ice cream lycra gang can watch brokeback mountain (trousers down) instead !
but hang on Hammond switches dress styles between a cowboy and Dr Who
was he coming out of the closet and into a Tardis ?
i had never eat ice cream in my whole entire life and does this includes ice blocks too?
Wow, the real world is slowly becoming tumblr (sp?) where everyone is a pussy and can’t differentiate between a crude joke and a genuine comment.
Ok… agreed Hammond took an unadvised trip on thin ice for a bit that was not even funny… but who the F is ‘Olly Alexander’ and why would I care what he thinks on twitter? What great work of social understanding has he produced that makes his twitter account the go-to for counterpoints on Ice-Cream-Gay scholarly discussion. Being part of a lip-sync trio wouldn’t even cut it on a resume for McDonalds. I hate the cult of celebrity.
It’s just attention whore that want to feel important on internet (I guess it doesn’t work that well in real life).