Fathers4Justice leader threatens to expose himself on live television

The leader of the fathers' rights organisation Fathers4Justice tried to make a joke in protest over the way he had been treated on the show.

Matt O'Connor, the founder of the group, was appearing on the ITV morning show to debate whether Father's Day should be banned on the basis that parents shouldn't be celebrated on just one particular day.

During the discussion, O'Connor opted to bring up how he had been treated like an "outcast" in the backstage area of the show.

I’m just going to say one important thing here, I’ve been made to feel like an outcast today in this studio.

I was put, not in the green room, but I was dumped outside.

He then concludes his point by stating:

I'm going to say one thing, I'm going to show you my balls.

O'Connor then stands up and starts to unbutton his trousers and for a moment it looks like he might actually expose himself.

Eventually, it all turns out to be a very bad joke as he instead pulls out a pair of joke testicles and throws them on the desk, much to the relief of presenters Kate Garraway and Ranvir Singh.

Fathers4Justice have shared a video of the incident on their Twitter page.

In response to O'Connor's claim, Singh stated that it was the show's policy to keep debating guests separate in the backstage area.

That will be a technical reason. I’m just going to explain that, it’s how we conduct our debates.

We always separate guests that are going to be part of the debate.

O'Connor disputed this and said that he had never been treated like this in the 20 years that he has been coming on the show and "that's just typical of how we treat fathers".

Garraway then called for an ad break and that O'Connor had "slightly let dads down there".

The stunt appears to have been in conjunction with a group called Knitting Nans who staged a protest in Parliament Square on 11 June.

Like Fathers4Justice, Knitting Nans are campaigning for their rights to see their grandchildren who they are prevented from seeing due to marriage breakdowns.

In a statement obtained by Metro, a spokesperson from GMB commented on O'Connor's actions:

Matt O’Connor was invited on to GMB this morning to debate the role of Fathers Day in today’s society.

Rather than engage properly in the debate he decided to pull an obviously preplanned publicity 'stunt.

 

His unfounded claims on ‘being treated so badly’ were seemingly part of this preplanned 'stunt.'

HT Metro

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