Coronation Street: Weatherfield's Disgrace

Coronation Street star Antony Cotton has spoken about the abuse he faces over his camp soap character - from young gay men.

Speaking at Manchester Pride's fringe festival on the subject of gay characters in Coronation Street, he says he's faced stick for years from the gay community - about his soap character, knicker-stitcher Sean Tully.

He told a packed audience at The Lowry centre: "I get a lot of stick from people who say, and these are people who are 21 years old, 'you've put the gay cause back 21 years.'

"Or they say 'you're a disgrace to this village'. You'd be surprised how many kids say that to me."

In defence of his soap character, Antony said: "Sean has never had to explain who he was, he never had to come out, he was just accepted into the community of Weatherfield from the start.

"So for every one of those people who say to me that Sean's a stereotype, and that he doesn't have a political storyline, actually the fact he's never had to explain himself makes him the most political gay character in soap." ...

Daily Mirror -

FAGBURN SAYS: DEATH TO THE BED
WETTING PEARL-CLUTCHING ANTI-CAMP HETERONORMATIVE GAYBORES!!!

PS The Mirror explain 'This article originally appeared on the Manchester Evening News website'.

It was then cut-and-pasted and run in The Independent without acknowledgement by someone called Jenn Selby.
Fagburn would consider this worthy of a printed apology, and it's also surely a disciplinary offence.
But it's The Independent, so don't hold you breath.
Journalism!

Coronation Street creator, the wonderful Tony Warren (above right), was also on the panel.

He recalled some hoo-ha at Granada Stuidios back in the 60s.

"I remember sitting in a script meeting and hearing these men describe one actor as a poof, a storyline described as poofy, I just said to them: 'Without a poof none of you would be in work this morning'."

Update: Antony was wearing a Pansy Project t-shirt on tonight's Corrie! Via Emma.