Madeley puts his foot in it

Richard Madeley has kicked up a storm following an alleged homophobic remark.

16:57 10 August 2004

Richard Madeley has kicked up a storm following an alleged homophobic remark.

While discussing female sexuality on "Richard and Judy", the show he presents with his wife, Madeley is said to have used the word "dyke".

The 48-year-old presenter apparently thought the term was a "hip" way to refer to lesbians.

But viewers disagreed.

"Richard Madeley understood that, historically, the word had been used to describe a lesbian in a disparaging manner," Channel 4 said in its statement to the TV regulator Ofcom.

"However, he genuinely believed that the term was now widely used in popular culture and accepted by the gay community. On this basis, he was using the word simply to describe a woman's sexuality in a hip way."

"The comment had been a light-hearted reference to a previous item about tanning, rather than any discussion of lesbianism and was not meant to be at all malicious," the statement added.

Madeley apologised on air after the programme's commissioning editor and compliance lawyer agreed the term should not have been used.