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Corrie boss dismisses Kate Garraway's 'shocking gay kiss' comment as 'disturbing'

Debate was rife over ‘darker’ Corrie, on today’s GMB, (PA)
Debate was rife over ‘darker’ Corrie, on today’s GMB, (PA)

Coronation Street boss Kate Oates has hit out at Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway over comments she made regarding on-screen same sex encounters.

While chatting to the Corrie producer on today’s show (16 March) about how dark some people believe the soap is getting, ahead of the David Platt rape storyline that airs tonight, the pair came to blows over what constitutes as ‘shocking’ television.

Garraway, 50, made a point of describing EastEnders‘ first gay kiss as ‘shocking TV’, and referenced Brookside’s iconic lesbian kiss: ‘I suppose what parents might worry about is it feels like [Corrie] is getting more and more shocking. I remember – because I am very old – the first lesbian kiss on Brookside and the first gay man kiss on EastEnders,’ she said.

She continued: ‘Now in tonight’s episode of Coronation Street we’re going to see the character David Platt drugged and sexually assaulted in a gay sexual assault.

‘That feels like an exponential increase in the explicit nature of what’s going straight into family viewing living rooms. It will be very clear, won’t it, what’s going on for youngsters watching?’

Corrie producer Kate Oates appeared on today’s GMB. (ITV)
Corrie producer Kate Oates appeared on today’s GMB. (ITV)

But when Oates joined the show via a live link, she had some points to get across based on how Garraway had painted the idea of gay kisses and same sex encounters.

‘I’ve got two points to address there really. First of all, you used a gay kiss as an example of shocking television and it’s really, really important that nobody thinks a gay kiss is shocking television’, she hit back.

When the presenter insisted it was indeed shocking when it aired, Oates said: ‘Exactly, and now [a gay kiss] has been normalised – and quite rightly because to think that a gay kiss is shocking television is really, really disturbing.’

The producer also talked about the importance of discussing male rape, and insisted it was a topic that needed to be brought up and not to be hidden away: ‘This needs discussion and it’s important to shine a light on these subjects,’ she continued. ‘Do it carefully and do it with consideration because we don’t want to upset people. We are a drama but we want to inform people.’

Catch Good Morning Britain each weekday, from 6am, on ITV1, and Coronation Street tonight from 7.30pm.

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