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John Barnes has denied he’s homophobic saying it was a “big shock” to leave the house to negative media attention.

The Liverpool FC legend was booted out of the back door of the house just days after angering viewers with his comments.

The decision came after the boy housemates were told by Big Brother: “Tonight, one of you will be evicted from the Big Brother house - and that person has been nominated by the girls.”

In his exit interview with Celebrity Big Brother host Emma Willis John defended himself.

He said: “I was very disgusted with suggestions of me being homophobic.

“Had that been mentioned we would’ve had it out there and then, I’m sure Shane would’ve been on my side, because that is not how it happened.

“The discrimination we all feel is exactly the same, and I have spoken about this for 20 years in schools and universities. For me to come out to that was a big shock.”

The homophobic claims emerged after John’s conversation with Shane Jenek.

When Shane was speaking about experimenting, John interjected, stating: “Kick them out of the club. Kick them out of the club.”

He added: “I’ll tell you why, because if anything happened in that room he’s out of the club.

(Image: Channel 5)

“If anything happens in the room, Andrew’s out of the club. He’s not in my club if anything happens.”

His comments faced backlash from members of the public and caused his family to come forward to defend the ex-England player.

An extract of their statement read: “It seems quite clear to us from the discussion as presented on the show that John is not offering the statements as reflections of his own feelings but as an explanation (but not justification) of the mentality that can cause some straight men to hold homophobic beliefs.”