John Humphrys criticised for questioning Rupert Everett over his sexuality and asking if he 'regretted coming out'

John Humphrys has been criticised for interrogating Rupert Everett about his sexuality and asking if he “regretted” coming out as gay.

The broadcaster, who presents BBC Radio 4’s Today program, also asked the actor when sexuality will become irrelevant.

Everett appeared on the radio show on Monday morning to talk about The Happy Prince – a film about Oscar Wilde which he wrote, directed and also stars in as the acclaimed Irish poet and playwright.

“You came out as gay, what, nearly 30 years ago? Do you ever regret that? Or was it the right timing? What effect has it had on you, on your career I mean?” Mr Humphrys asked Everett.

“Um, I think, I don’t regret it, it wasn’t really a choice for me,” Everett responded. “I was very into the whole scene of being gay, going out clubbing, bars, so it wasn’t a possibility for me to have lived a double life.”

The 59-year-old actor continued: “In terms of regret, in terms of career, I think yes, of course, to be gay in a quite aggressively heterosexual business, a kind of boys club, is certainly not ideal and I think eventually, certainly during the 80s and 90s, the beginning of this century you, at a certain point, normally hit a brick wall.

“However, I think struggle has been, for me, one of the great fertilisers. Every time things have gone wrong is when I’ve been forced upon myself to be more creative.

“So in one sense, I don’t regret it at all. I think things are changing as well. We have, in this country certainly, some fantastic, young, openly gay actors. When you get older I don’t think it’s so much of an issue to be honest.”

Mr Humphrys rounded off the interview by asking: “Do you think they’ll ever get to the stage where we’ll do an interview like this and it won’t even be mentioned that you happen to be gay? In other words, it’ll be irrelevant?”

Mr Humphreys has been criticised by some listeners for “relentlessly grilling” Everett on air – with people branding the presenter a “dinosaur”.

“Since this interview centred around Rupert Everett’s portrayal of, and long-standing interest in, Oscar Wilde, it was not inappropriate to draw parallels between the two men and their experiences of being gay at different points in history,” a BBC spokesperson told The Independent.

The Happy Prince, which is released in UK cinemas on 15 June, traces Wilde’s life after he was released from prison following his arrest in connection with his gay affair with Lord Alfred Douglas.

Critics lambasted Mr Humphreys, who has been a presenter on the Today programme for just over 30 years, for the interview on Twitter.

“John Humphry’s interview on #r4today with Rupert Everett was absolutely woeful as he asked him if he regretted coming out as gay. Alternatively, John, do you regret being an absolute idiot?” said Twitter user Shahil Parmar.

Humphrys’ line of questioning about regret may have stemmed from comments Everett made in a previous interview. Back in 2009, the actor told The Observer: “I would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out.”

Mr Humphrys, who has been known as the “rottweiler of Radio 4”, left school in Cardiff at the age of 15 to become a newspaper journalist. In 1966 he joined the BBC and within five years was Washington correspondent and covering Richard Nixon's resignation. The pillar of the BBC has also worked as a foreign correspondent in both America and Africa and as diplomatic correspondent and presenter of the Nine O'Clock News.