Anthony Cotton Tweets Support For Corrie Following Anti-Gay Memo

Anthony Cotton has tweeted his support for Coronation Street following news that senior producers have issued a memo to the cast and crew of the Manchester based serial warning them about the use of homophobic language.

The Sunday Mirror reported that homophobic remarks had been heard on the soap’s set. Following a complaint about the remarks, senior producers including Kieron Roberts and Stuart Blackburn, issued a memo warning that such language and behaviour was unacceptable.

Anthony Cotton is believed to have been the target of the homophobic comments; the actor plays knicker-stitcher Sean Tully in the soap having joined the cast in 2004. Whether Cotton was the target of the remarks or not the actor has taken to Twitter to publicly give his support to the soap.

Writing on the social networking site he said:  “When I won the National Television Award for playing my character Sean in Coronation Street, I thanked the show and ITV for putting a gay character at the centre of the show. I felt nothing but love and support from the cast and crew in equal measure. Almost ten years later, I feel no different. If you want to feel equal and included then Weatherfield is the place to be.”

In 2011 Cotton appeared on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! during which he was the subject of some homophobic abuse on Twitter; footballer Michael Ball was fined £600 by the FA for a tweet on the actor. Ball wrote “That fucking queer. Get back to your sewing machine in Corrie, you moaning bastard”.

Cotton’s appearance on the reality series also led to former Corrie co-star John Thomson branding the actor as “a nasty piece of work” and said the actor was “trouble with a capital t”.