UK morning show Good Morning Britain is facing criticism after appearing to apply pressure to Curtis Pritchard, star of popular local reality TV series Love Island, to come out as LGBTIQ+.
During a live interview earlier this week, the show's presenters Adil Ray and Kate Garroway drilled Pritchard with questions about his sexuality, addressing that he “wouldn’t rule out” having a relationship with a man.
Pritchard, who left Love Island with a new girlfriend, Maura Higgins, replied to the line of questioning by saying: “I think the future’s a road which is unwritten, nobody can ever say what’s going to happen in the future, really. I mean, last year, would I have said I’m on Love Island? No."
He added: “So, I never want to label what the future’s going to be, because I don’t think anyone can ever do that. All I want to say is that I’m 100 per cent comfortable where I am now in my relationship with Maura and it’s moving in the correct direction.”
That's not where the interrogation ended, though, with Ray pushing Pritchard to label himself as bisexual.
Pritchard reiterated that he wasn't comfortable “labelling anything,” to which the host replied: “Why not?”
“Because I don’t feel like I need to label anything," he responded. “Because so many people put labels on things, people say things and… they change their mind and opinion. Things change. That’s why I’m not labelling anything.”
Unsatisfied, Ray pressed on: “There is some discussion since your comments, people saying for men in particular, they find it hard to come out and bisexual, you should just say that, and there might be a concern on your part to say openly as a man in Britain in 2019, ‘I’m bisexual.’”
Viewers were quick to criticise the show's hosts for their aggressive line of questioning.
"Poor interview indeed," one wrote on twitter.
"Very invasive and even after he answered (which he didn't need to do in any event) they kept repeating the question and trying to force someone to come out.
"But credit to Curtis who handled himself very well."
