The executive producer of Two and a Half Men has said he “won’t be surprised” if people are offended by a storyline in which Ashton Kutcher’s straight character Walden enters into a same-sex marriage to make it easier for him to adopt a child.

It was announced earlier this week that the sham marriage storyline – in which Walden marries fellow straight character Alan Harper – will be a prominent part of the sitcom’s upcoming final season, with CBS chairman Nina Tassler insisted that the storyline was “a very positive statement”.

However, after negative reactions online, executive producer Chuck Lorre has spoken out to say that he expects some people will be offended by it.

He told the Hollywood Reporter: “You’re going to see two men who are not gay but are going to raise a child with a great deal of love and attention.

“No offence is intended, and I hope none is taken. We’ve always been somewhat of an offensive show, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this is going to be offending people. We can’t go out with dignity, because we’ve never had any.”

Jon Cryer, who plays Alan Harper on the show, added: “They are doing this for the right reason, but they’re taking advantage of something that was obviously fought for very hard by the LGBT community.

“I felt like comedically, it was a fun idea. Obviously we don’t want to cheapen the struggle that people have been going through.”

“Obviously we’ve cheapened plenty of things over the decade that we’ve been on the air, but that is something we’re not intending to do. We’ll see where it goes.

“I’d love to say, ‘It’s Two and a Half Men, you know, we’re going to do it tastefully.’ But that’s a tough phrase coming out of my mouth.”

The programme, which airs on CBS, last September introduced the role of a bisexual female character in the form of Charlie Harper’s long lost daughter. Harper was played by Charlie Sheen.