Celebrity Big Brother is back on our screens and is already causing controversy with one of its contestants: homophobic ex-boxer Winston McKenzie.

While it’s rather difficult to pin down the former mayoral candidate’s political views (he’s been a member of the Conservative party, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Ukip, the English Democrats, and has stood as an independent candidate), in his opinions regarding gay people, he’s been far clearer.

McKenzie has previously gone on the record comparing gay parents to child abusers; is referenced in Following Farage (Owen Bennett’s book on the Ukip campaign trail) discussing “bloody queers”; and most recently said that he’d have to “stand with my back against a brick wall all the time” if he has to share the Big Brother house with a gay housemate.

His comments have rightly attracted a number of complaints to Ofcom as they were broadcast on Channel 5 during the launch of the series, but what’s more worrying is his inclusion in this year’s show at all.

This seems to be part of a worrying trend of TV channels not avoiding homophobes, but actually celebrating them.

They’d have edited his VT with his 'back against a brick wall' comment and yet they still chose to broadcast it

Take the BBC and its absurd stance on the boxer Tyson Fury. When being interviewed by the Daily Mail, Fury compared gay marriage to paedophilia, after which the BBC gave him the honour of adding him to the shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year.

A petition that reached nearly 140,000 signatures asking Fury to be removed from the list due to his abhorrent views forced the BBC to defend its decision, absurdly claiming the award was to celebrate sporting prowess. By their reasoning, if Bashar al-Assad got handy with a javelin, he could be shortlisted next year.

Why is it that people who have gone on the record with blatantly homophobic views are being celebrated on television at all? If Fury wants to be a bigot then fair enough, but surely that should mean he forgoes his chance to be honoured as a sports personality? Is he the best we can do for a sporting role model?

The same applies to McKenzie. Can you think of any other minority who’d have to listen to such ill-educated prejudice from someone who then goes on to be rewarded with a reported £60,000 fee? I’d say not, and that’s absolutely correct. So why is it acceptable when the gay community are the target?

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In the world of television, it seems being homophobic isn’t a barrier to being celebrated and well paid in the process.

What’s even more alarming is that the producers of Celebrity Big Brother would have been fully aware of McKenzie’s anti-gay views, yet they still booked him. They’d have been fully aware of the controversy the booking would create but chose to go ahead with it anyway. What’s worse is they’d have edited his introductory VT containing his absurd “back against a brick wall” comment and still chosen to broadcast it: remember these weren’t comments made off-the-cuff during the live broadcast, they were pre-recorded before the show.

Homophobic hate crime is on the rise. It’s up to TV companies to do their bit and stop putting people with views that can encourage it on a pedestal for entertainment, however tempting it may be for ratings.

In a week when we’ve seen the police investigating a man on the London underground being aggressively homophobic towards another passenger, is this really an example we want to set to the younger generation who vote during these reality shows?

Or is Channel 5 hoping the police find the Tube homophobe so it can book him for next year’s show?