Comedian Matt Lucas calls the BBC 'pathetic' after Newsnight’s Evan Davis claims Tinder 'allows straight people to act like gay men'

Newsnight presenter criticised for lazy stereotyping in his segment

Evan Davis (Newsnight)

Tinder’s reputation might have gone up in flames after an unflattering Vanity Fair profile lead to the matchmaking app going into meltdown this week, but Newsnight’s Evan Davis has only made it worse.

Davis ended up causing his own controversy when his comments that the app let straight people 'behave like gay men' led to many people criticising him for encouraging the stereotype that gay men were naturally promiscuous.

Comedian Matt Lucas called the whole thing ‘pathetic’, while a number of people tweeted Davis to tell him they thought his description was needlessly loaded given that Tinder is used by people of all sexualities.

"For the uninitiated, Tinder is the biggest of a number of apps that allow straight people of any gender to behave like gay men," he said.

Some people assumed the whole thing must be a spoof. But many people simply felt that Davis might have been less likely to rely on lazy stereotypes given that he is openly gay himself, and has often spoken out about LGBT equality.