This Morning is the British equivalent of The Today Show, and this week they featured an incredibly important segment on *straight *male toplessness.
Let’s be clear about what guest Jamie Richardson was advocating for: the freedom for men (“it doesn’t matter if you’re big, you’re skinny, black white” just not a woman) to take off their shirts in public.
And look — we’re all for showing some skin, but Jamie’s yearning for liberation is awfully… limited.
Related: Meet the gay teen who hopes to unseat his virulently homophobic Ohio legislator in November
Because despite the irony of pushing for his own shirtlessness while disapproving of all people enjoying the same freedom, he also thinks the entire debate is moot so long as “you’ve got transgender people, men marrying men, men going to the same toilet as women.”
Oh boy.
But the surprising part of the segment isn’t Jamie’s tired viewpoint, it’s the way the three other people in the conversation react.
Related: Say cheese! Gay youth snaps beaming selfie seconds after homophobic attack, now he’s going viral
Hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford had the opportunity to dig in when Jamie let his true colors show, but instead, Langsford fired back with this searing follow-up:
“So Jamie, say you were on a train and you think ‘Oh I’m a bit hot in here,’ and you took your top off and there was somebody sitting there with their children and they said ‘Actually do you mind not doing that’?”
Nailed him, Langsford.
You can watch the entire uninspired thing below, or skip to the 2:30 mark to see the homophobia and transphobia play out:
Needless to say, viewers aren’t thrilled with the segment:
Why r @thismorning letting people like this moron on tv. His comments about transgender and gay people is ridiculous. If u work that hard u prick u can afford to buy a top and maybe buy urself an education while ur at it #ThisMorning https://t.co/jbCbCkBa1n
— Ciaran Harkin (@ciaranharkin) July 26, 2018
What is with this shirtless man on #thismorning trying to bring trans, gays and enbys into this argument??? Leave us out of this I don't wanna take my shirt off no matter how I'm presenting 🙁
— ValkryieM (@ValkryieM) July 26, 2018
“There’s men marrying men so if I want to walk down the street with my tshirt off I will” homophobic comment right there and Eamon/Ruth never flicked an eye lid. Wow #ThisMorning @thismorning
— Gary (@iAmGaryNorman) July 26, 2018
Kaliforniaboy
FIRT-A-ALL (Not “First”…”Firt” 0
He needs to put his shirt back on his ploated bod…
Eeeeewwww…..
paul dorian lord fredine
narcissistic prick says what?
JudasGoat
LOL
It’s amusing that these grotesque mooks think gays are fawning for them. British Trumpanzee is ugly AF
misterjack
They should outlaw douchie tattoos.
ShowMeGuy
Hey, he got those tats with a Groupon ! ! ! ! !
RobtheElder
Hopefully I can write better than most of these commentators. Men’s tops come in all sorts of weights from gossamer to polar fleece. I’ve never seen such a glorious looking male body that I’d like to have it bare chested and perspiring at the next table in the grand dining room of the Ritz Carlton, or at a wedding or at it’s reception. The beach is the appropriate setting for any sort of nudity. If you don’t want to see humans in the all together, don’t pick the nude beach, but topless men on the regular beach are to be expected… and I’ve admired a few. Otherwise, you’re not going to see my old chest, or any other old part of me naked, either… RobtheElder
broadshoulder
Oh dear that snoreathon This Morning. They will be happy that you are paying attention to them
Larry
So you can be shirtless, which I have no problem with, but we cant marry the one we love? Sounds kinda selfish and one-sided to me you closeted idiot.
tjack47
I don’t care who wears a shirt or not. It completely depends on context. I’ve no idea why America is so uptight with females being topless. Our nation can be so Puritanical while watching a female masturbate with a hamburger on the hood of a car. I don’t find anything offensive about anyone’s human body, but I’ve cared for people of both sexes from 9 to 102. LGBTQI, any sexuality or gender identity. It’s all landscapes and the incredible manificant human anatomy and physiology. These hosts act no different than hosts I’ve seen on any morning show in America.
StraightnNarrow
Do you have any sense of decorum? Women being topless in public are offensive and gross. It’s one law we need to uphold without exceptions.
Kangol
I agree with you, tjack47. But the Puritanism is part of the US’s history. Large numbers of religious dissenters and minorities, many with anti-sex ideologies, have settled in what’s now the US. It’s quite different from countries completely settled by Spain or France (which also had colonies in what’s now the US), to give but two examples.
BTW, I see our old pal @CastleSF has returned under a new moniker, @StraightnNarrow, with the prudery intact.
StraightnNarrow
Glad to be back. With the same friends and foes.
Greg
Note to self: After a long day at work, I don’t want to see that. We don’t want to see them tits all over the place. Jiggling, bouncing, swaying from side to side. In a cool breeze, the nipples perk right up. The reason it’s a “NO” in this country is because if the straight guys get to see melons bobbling wherever they go, they won’t have as much interest their girlfriend’s or wive’s boobs all that much. It’s all up to the women. If they want to show their jugs to every passing stranger, including their Uncle Herbert, they should be allowed. But only at the beach. I don’t want to see a bunch of them at Ralph’s.
dwes09
” Women being topless in public are offensive and gross. It’s one law we need to uphold without exceptions.”
Truly, there is no cure for a dull mind and mean spirit! If only folks like this could have a mirror held to them that showed their shriveled soul.
graphicjack
Any man or woman should be able to be topless in any public open air environment, except a restaurant patio. As soon as you are indoors in a public space, put a shirt on. There. Solved it.
Xzamilloh
Gross
Next
Ptar1
Man or woman, it’s all a matter of where you’re at. I have no issues on beaches or public streets, even many bars (at the bars discretion). But, not where food is sold or served, Maybe a food truck or stand, maybe.
Just don’t make others uncomfortable or break the rules of the establishment. But, food is a hygiene concern, health laws, etc.
dwes09
“But, not where food is sold or served, Maybe a food truck or stand, maybe.”
Why exactly? Do you think odd germs jump from flesh not normally prone to pick them up onto your food? If you are concerned about pathogens you should everyone put on sterile gloves when they enter a restaurant or kitchen, not their shirt.
The major source of pathogens, the major avenue of contagion is ones hands., not their nipples or pectorals.
People need to learn to use their brains, not simply wallow in their assumptions and personal taste as if it were reality.
mr_r
I don’t really think his comments are that bad. I think he just means that socially we’ve become accustomed to allowing everyone else to do whatever makes them happy. Why not him.
Mkiel
because he is as ugly as f}}k
batesmotel
That’s what I got as well. Didn’t take it as being homophobic or transphobic at all. He was just saying what difference does it make. We’re becoming more of an open society.
marq
The real problem here is that “This Morning” chose to do this story and invite this dickhead on. Try to upset people, try to divide people, for some reason some like it and it sells them hamburgers and useless insurance policies.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
That fugly fcuk took a nasty tumble from the tippy top of the ugly tree and hit every branch face first on the way down…..
StraightnNarrow
You are one nasty rice queen!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
^ Interesting!! This vile creature above calls me “nasty” while spewing a racist derogatory comment towards Asian Gays..
Go infect one of your right wing sites, you vile, noxious troll..
Greg
I can’t even understand what he’s saying. He says he works out, but he looks kind of fat. If in public, people should at least wear a T shirt. What does gay people and trans people have to do with people taking their shirt off? He says it’s a class thing. Yeah, low-class slobs walk around in public shirtless. It’s okay at the beach, pools, or the gym.
Greg
People should try to look their best in public. If you have a hot, sexy, body, by all means, go shirtless. If you don’t have a hot, sexy, body and are out of shape and have a hairy back and a big paunch, would that be considered looking your best if you go shirtless?
Aires the Ram
I think he’s hot, I love his accent, you can tell he not only knows his way around a gym, but also knows how to actually work. What he said wasn’t bad, he was just trying to make his point. He’s not fat, he’s got a working mans body, not the body of an office worker who goes to the gym twice a day, eight days a week. He’s not everyone’s type, but neither are any of us.
dwes09
Thankfully you are not the arbiter of what “looking one’s best” looks like. Your taste is simply that, your taste.
Granted most folks feel clothing in public adds decorum and flatters one’s best assets. But people are free to dress as they choose in public and quite honestly your assumption that your taste is applicable to all says nothing very flattering about your intellect or personality.
I don’t go out unless I feel “put together” but would never presume that all must feel that way. I can look at people or not as i choose, and i am not so fragile that poor presentation offends me.
It’s called being an adult.
Try it.
nitejonboy
Boy is he fugly!!!
clhs
He’s got a face like a bulldog licking piss off a nettle.
DCguy
Well he had to give up a fish and chip lunch to save up the 8 pounds to pay for those tattoos, hey, when he pays almost 10 pounds for something he wants people to SEE them!
Aires the Ram
Oh, I see, the life choices you’ve made, are better than his. So therefore, you sit on your perch, high above him (in your mind). Your post just said much more about you, than it did him.
tennisteacher2
I guess this homo/transphobic NEANDERTHAL thinks he some sort of a prize……NOT…
batesmotel
Not sure that I got that he was homophobic necessarily. He just said look this is an open minded society now with gays and transgenders, what difference does it make if I choose to take my shirt off.
Aires the Ram
Exactly.
brianlange
I think guys like him need to make reasonable people see what we put upnwith. Ever notice the guys worried about getting high on are disgusting