BBC presenter Andrew Marr has said Oscar Wilde was a type of “gay Christ” – and then mocked people who might be offended.
Marr was speaking to Rupert Everett about a film on the homosexual playwright’s life.
Everett agreed with Marr’s comparison, but went even further, saying he was “better than Christ”.
‘More human’
During an interview on The Andrew Marr Show, the presenter claimed that for “a lot of gay people”, Oscar Wilde is a “kind of gay Christ – it’s the public humiliation, he’s running towards degradation and humiliation and horror”.
Rupert Everett, who directs and stars in the film, concurred with the comparison but claimed that Wilde was more “human” than Jesus.
He said, “his human side is very human: greed, ego, vanity, snobbery, all the things that brought him down, I find tremendously appealing and touching”.
Church
Marr then acknowledged that people would be disturbed by the discussion, but dismissed their response.
“Well those people watching this who are offended by that can now go to church and get down on their knees and apologise for watching in the first place.”
In 2016, BBC presenter Roger Bolton accused the Corporation of having “a bias against taking religion seriously”.
However, the BBC Press Office told The Christian Institute at the time: “We take religion incredibly seriously”, pointing to senior appointments and its ongoing discussions with religious leaders.