Coronation Street star Daniel Brocklebank reveals he 'calls out' homophobic commenters online

Coronation Street actor Daniel Brocklebank has revealed how he deals with homophobic trolls online.

The actor, who plays Billy Mayhew on the ITV soap, was guesting on Loose Women where he revealed that he’s received homophobic comments about his kissing scenes on the show.

He said: “On social media, it’s unbelievable.

“I do highlight it, not all of it actually, but I think it’s important to let people know it’s still going on.

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“The UK at large is a very accepting country, we’re very lucky here, when you consider what’s happening in Brunei today, but then of course we have arguments recently about whether LGBT should be discussed in schools.

“Section 28 was repealed in 2003, so it’s surprising that 16 years later we’re still having those sort of discussions.

“If children are being taught about families, then in my opinion they should be taught about all sorts of families. It’s not about sex education, it’s about life education.”

Brocklebank said that he did feel a duty to speak out: “It is a responsibility. I’m a gay man myself anyway so I feel that there is a responsibility.

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“I’m in the public eye therefore my voice probably reaches further than others, and I do feel that there is a level of responsibility there to highlight these things are still going on.

“But like you say, soaps are incredibly powerful and I think what we can do with these storylines is encourage people to have conversations about subjects that people might feel a little uncomfortable bringing up themselves.

“Obviously it’s about entertainment but it is about education and if we can get a message across to people as well, then all the better.”

Brocklebank recently confronted a viewer making homophobic remarks online.

They said that that there should have been a pre-show warning: “[There are] warnings about swearing, but not two blokes snogging.”

The commenter added that they’d felt uncomfortable watching the scenes with a 10-year-old relative who asked ‘why’ it had happened.

Brocklebank replied: “Would you have the same opinion if it were a man & a woman kissing? How sad that a 10 year old had to learn that relationships can come in many varieties from television.”