James Jordan doesn’t think same-sex couples on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ would be taken seriously.
The ballroom dancer – who was sacked from the show after eight years in 2014 – has stood by his comments that the BBC celebrity dance contest shouldn’t allow men to dance with men and women with women, adding that they would be seen as a "joke couple".
He said: "The world has become so PC [politically correct] now and everyone’s scared to have their own opinion. I’m not, I have an opinion. Why change it [the show]? Why change a winning format? Why have same sex couples? Why is it tick this box, tick this box, tick this box? I say just leave it as it is, it’s an amazing success, it’s a brilliant show, I love it and will always support it but if there is a same sex couple dancing I don’t think … If they did it, it would be a joke couple. People wouldn’t take it seriously, it’d have to be comedy value – two men dancing a sexy rumba together? I don’t think it would work. That’s my opinion."
The 37-year-old star also insisted he’s not homophobic and, if anything, believes having gay men and women dance with members of the same sex is "sexist".
Speaking on ITV’s ‘This Morning’, James – who is marred to ‘Strictly’ professional Ola Jordan – added: "Why should a gay man not be able to dance with a woman? Isn’t that sexist within itself? Saying that because I’m gay, I have to dance with a man? That’s sexist really. Ballroom and Latin dancing is about a man dancing with a woman … The way the dress moves, the femininity, the masculinity and at the end of the day it’s easy for [‘Strictly’ judge] Craig [Revel Horwood] to say, ‘I want to see same sex dancing’, but he’s not from my dance world. He’s from the theatre world. He’s not a Ballroom and Latin dancer. I am. So I have a right to say whether or not I agree with it. It doesn’t make me homophobic at all, it’s just something I feel very strongly about."
James Jordan: Same-sex couples on Strictly Come Dancing would be ‘a joke’
