Lorraine Kelly has faced criticism online following an interview with Boy George which saw the pair slamming JK Rowling over her views on the trans debate.
Boy George recently had a spat with the Harry Potter author on X over her views, and appeared on Kelly’s self-titled ITV chat show on Wednesday.
The ’80s singer-songwriter, 64, was asked by the Scottish presenter about giving people “a voice”.
The 65-year-old stated: “You know what I love about you, over the years is you’ve always stood up for people who sometimes don’t have a voice for themselves.
“And as we know, we’ve talked about in this show a lot, and people in the trans community have been… Crikey, it’s been very tough for them. And you’ve actually said. You’ve been good like that, and you’ve always been good like that.”
“When I was a kid, you know, when I was seven, it was obvious to everyone that I was gay,” the Culture Club front man replied.
He continued: “Obviously, I didn’t know what it was, you know, and parents often know and they don’t say anything, thinking if they don’t talk about it, it will go away.
“Usually with trans kids, it’s the kid that informs the adult through different behavior, little girls not acting like a little girl. Should little boys doing this, that, the other? So usually it’s the kid that informs the adults. And this idea that a parent pushes their kid to be trans is so ridiculous.
“I mean, I’ve got friends who’ve got kids that are trans and it’s…. They struggle. ‘Should I do the right thing? Should I wait till the kid is 18 or 21?’ All of that stuff.”
He added pointedly: “It’s real life stuff. It’s not two celebrities, bickering on the internet.”
“No, because I know you have had around with JK Rowling, a lot of people have, and they absolutely have,” Kelly commented.
“I think it’s hilarious though, having a row with someone I’ve ever met,” the singer replied, emphasising: “We never will meet.”
He went on: “I feel like, you know, in the [Harry Potter] movies, she creates this beautiful, magical world, and in real life, she’s a muggle. So it’s very disappointing to find out that actually, in a way it’s not true.”
“Do you think that we will ever get to a point, I would love it to be – where it really, really doesn’t matter?” Kelly probed.
“Well for most people, it doesn’t matter. It matters only whether you’re a nice person or a horrible person,” the singer responded. “And you know, nobody chooses to be trans or gay, no one chooses to have blue eyes – it just happens.
“And it’s just sad somebody who’s so creative – I love the movies, the movies are brilliant…” Unable to resist a dig at the author, 59, he waved and remarked: “I bet she’s watching now, morning! Get over it!”
Laughing, Kelly responded: “Maybe she is, maybe she isn’t. I just find it really, you know, having friends who are trans and are going through a really tough time.
“It’s just like, let’s be fair about stuff. Let’s be fair. Let’s talk. And we can all have our points of view, but at the end of the day, we’re all just people wandering through and trying to go into their lanes.”
Reacting to one of the main points in the debate, Boy George added: “No one goes into the loo to hang out. It’s a horrible place. Smelly, stinky, horrible place. No one goes in there to hang out.”
“It always comes down to toilets! And I don’t quite know why,” Kelly concluded.
The conversation prompted plenty of reaction on social media, with several users furious that Kelly appeared to dismiss the concerns of biological women about the use of single-sex spaces such as toilets.
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One X user shared a clip of the interview to their followers, and asked: “Is Lorraine actually this stupid?”
“Yes, yes she is,” one replied, with another echoing this with: “Yes she is!”
A third replied to the question: “Oh yes. Yes she is,” while another fumed: “The stupid interviewing, disingenuous.”
“Both of them are, it seems,” another noted before another X user added: “She is very naive!!!!”
Another pointed out: “Women and girls often hang out in toilets: To cry, To get away from a bad date, To have a miscarriage, To deal with periods, To have a good old gossip, To put on makeup and share tips, To take their kids for a wee, To skive off maths, TO GET AWAY FROM BOYS AND MEN however they present!”
Some did agree with the presenter though, with one writing in the responses: “I don’t think so.”