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Olly Murs echoes Sacha Baron Cohen's recent claims to be '20 per cent gay'

Murs' comments were met with a mixed response on social media

Olivia Blair
Wednesday 16 March 2016 14:29 EDT
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Olly Murs
Olly Murs (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

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After Sacha Baron Cohen’s recent estimate that he is “23 per cent gay”, Olly Murs has now said he is probably “20 per cent gay”.

Under the headline: “Lady magnet Olly Murs makes shock revelation: ‘I’m gay (well, only about 20%),” Murs told The Sun: “I’m probably the same, or maybe 20 per cent [gay]” when discussing Baron-Cohen’s recent remarks.

He continued: “I’ve got a lot of gay friends I get on with really well. I get on with everyone. Everyone’s got a bit of campness about them…”

The reaction to the former X Factor presenter’s comments on social media were mixed, something the 31-year-old might have picked up on given his reminder to his near-seven million followers to read more than the headline.

Some of the responses, including from Embarrassing Bodies presenter Dr Christian Jessen, praised Murs for seemingly recognising sexuality isn’t fixed and can be fluid or on a spectrum.

Others were unimpressed with Murs’ “campness” remarks and were keen to stress that being gay does not equate to being "camp".

Baron-Cohen told the same newspaper a few weeks ago that the idea of fixed terms like gay and straight were trivial and he believes there’s a scale instead. “Everyone is somewhere in the scale. I’m 23 per cent gay. I’ve worked it out, did the calculations.”

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