In the aftermath of the Orlando shootings, Owen Jones appeared on the Sky News paper review on Sunday night to share his thoughts on the terrorist attack which left 49 dead. However, he ended up walking off set live on-air after growing frustrated over the broadcaster’s refusal to describe the shooting as an attack on LGBT people. Since then, Jones has penned a piece for the Guardian calling for the media focus to be on homophobia as the LGBT community try to deal with this attempt at the ‘erasure’ of their people.
However, it turns out that Jones isn’t so fussed about the silencing of certain members of the LGBT community. Steerpike understands that the Guardian columnist was set to appear alongside The Spectator‘s Douglas Murray on Channel 4 last night for a broadcast from the Orlando vigil in Soho. However, the broadcaster told Murray his services were no longer required after Jones refused to appear on air with him:
I was due to be on Channel 4 News tonight, live from the Orlando vigil in Soho. But apparently Owen Jones won't appear with me, so it's off.
— Douglas Murray (@DouglasKMurray) June 13, 2016
But I can see why. After the mass murder of gays by an Islamist, why not no-platform a gay who has warned about Islamists?
— Douglas Murray (@DouglasKMurray) June 13, 2016
While Murray is an LGBT voice, it appears he is the wrong kind of LGBT voice as far as Jones is concerned. Rather than hear from a gay man who has warned about Islamists, Jones was joined by the SNP’s Mhairi Black — the openly-gay MP whose politics are very much in line with Jones’s.
Surely it couldn’t be the case that Jones is only happy to hear from members of the LGBT community who share his views?
Update: The plot thickens. Jones has contacted Mr S to offer his version of events. While he admits that he did not want to share a platform with Murray, he says that this was simply because ‘another row would’ve made me even more the story’…
https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/742786989875941376
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