Bruno Langley has been on our screens since 2001, playing the gay character Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street. He was in the Manchester Magistrates Court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two women. There are reportedly two further allegations for which charges have not been brought against him.

He has said that this outburst was caused by his wanting to be seen as more masculine, or as one of the ‘lads’, and was in a bid to try and disassociate himself from his on-screen character’s gay persona. Earlier this week, ITV confirmed that he has been axed from Coronation street but he will be seen on screen until around Christmas because of existing story-lines.

“Bruno played a high-profile gay character for 16 years…. he sometimes feels he needs to act more of a lad than he is to stop assumptions about his sexuality.”

The mitigating circumstances gave by Langley’s solicitor in court centred around the stress caused by playing the role of a gay character on screen for 16 years plus as a result of his alcohol intake. He stated: “It was completely out of character. Something happened that night, most possibly in relation to the character he was playing. These two offences happened within one evening but are linked to alcohol. The result was despicable behaviour.”

A source close to Langley told The Sun that: “Bruno played a high-profile gay character for 16 years…. he sometimes feels he needs to act more of a lad than he is to stop assumptions about his sexuality.”

[bsa_pro_ad_space id=6]

Backlash

He has been met with backlash by the LGBT+ community for placing blame on his onscreen persona as a gay man to excuse his behaviours. This comes just one week after Al Porter used his flamboyance and outrageous to excuse sexual assault allegations made against him.

Since the story has broke, two actresses from Coronation street have spoken anonymously to the Mirror about the ruling: “You cannot use being drunk as any possible excuse for degrading women in this way. How do you justify that? It’s disgraceful.” Another Corrie actress added: “Blaming drink for outrageous behaviour is totally unacceptable. “What the hell was he thinking of? He works on a family TV show, is recognised in public, then goes out and single-handedly destroys his reputation and career by resorting to sexually assaulting women.