![\"Malcolm](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_JS394292402.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEXCLUSIVE: Malcolm Offord cracked the vile joke about the pop star’s late partner in 2018.<\/p>\n
15:46, 24 Mar 2026Updated 20:36, 24 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
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Malcolm Offord(Image: Robert Perry\/Getty)<\/p>\n
Reform\u2019s leader in Scotland has apologised after cracking a disgusting homophobic joke about the partner of late pop star George Michael.<\/a><\/p>\n Malcolm Offord mocked the Wham star\u2019s grieving boyfriend Fadi Fawaz with a cruel sexual gag.<\/p>\n Offord apologised and made a donation to charity.<\/p>\n An eye witness said Offord told the extended joke in 2018 while giving a Burns Night speech at the London Scottish rugby club<\/a>.<\/p>\n He had been appointed as the chair of the club in 2017 and his speech was delivered at the Richmond Athletic ground in the UK Capital.<\/p>\n Ian Lewer, 41, who is from Surrey, attended the event with his wife.<\/p>\n In a statement, Lewer told the Record Offord\u2019s speech was peppered with references to Michael, the gay icon who passed away in 2016.<\/p>\n Michael, known for worldwide hits including \u2018Freedom 90\u2019 and \u2018Fast Love\u2019, was in a relationship with Fawaz at the time of his death.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Moaning Malcolm Offord in rant about media exposes on extreme Holyrood candidates<\/a>READ MORE: Reform Scotland’s Holyrood candidates part of ‘racist’ and anti-Muslim Facebook group<\/a> George Michael on stage performing during the Live Aid Concert(Image: PA Archive\/PA Images)<\/p>\n Lewer said: \u201cOn the 27th January 2018, I attended a Burns Night dinner at the London Scottish Rugby Club in Richmond as a guest of a good friend.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that time Malcolm Offord was a chairman of the club and made an after dinner speech.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no idea who he was until then, I had not met or heard of him.<\/p>\n \u201cThe speech itself was a bizarre attempt to link the songs of the late George Micheal to the works of Robert Burns, interspersed with clips of some of his famous hits accompanied by Offord\u2019s questionable dancing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact he was clearly intoxicated added another awkward dimension to the experience.”<\/p>\n He added: \u201cBut the worst part was a shocking story at the expense of Fadi Fawaz, George Michael\u2019s partner at the time of his death.”<\/p>\n The Record is choosing not to repeat the joke in the interests of taste.<\/p>\n Lewer said: \u201cI was sitting next to a gay man and it was clearly an extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant experience for him.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time I thought it pretty awful and indeed that was the feeling in the room. Even for a rugby club it was a crude, bad taste and insulting spectacle.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a prude, I\u2019m up for banter. But there is banter and taking things to that level. I don\u2019t know who in their right mind would say something like that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is utterly bizarre that anyone would get up and make a speech in a room with 200 people and say something like that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so shocking I\u2019ve not forgotten it.<\/p>\n He concluded: \u201cI remembered it again when I became aware he had become leader of Reform in Scotland. He seems to have a strong chance of becoming an MSP, perhaps a powerful MSP.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt people in Scotland should know before they cast their votes.\u201d<\/p>\n A source close to Offord said he apologised in the “moment” and “took ownership” of the mistake.<\/p>\n The source said he made a financial contribution to an LGBT rugby group and insisted Offord is not homophobic.<\/p>\n Scottish Labour equalities spokesperson Paul O\u2019Kane said: \u201cThis just exposes Reform as the nasty party that they are. Whether it is homophobia or racism, there is clearly no low to which they will not sink.<\/p>\n \u201cLord Offord attempted to pass off some of the reprehensible remarks made previously by his party\u2019s candidates in Scotland as being okay because they are \u2018not politicians\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he has served as a minister in the House of Lords for years under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak, so what is his excuse? He must now make a full, public apology, or he should stand down as his party\u2019s leader in Scotland.<\/p>\n \u201cThis just demonstrates that Reform UK do not represent the people of Scotland. Only Scottish Labour can beat the SNP and give the people of Scotland the chance to take a new direction.\u201d<\/p>\n SNP Cabinet Secretary Angus Robertson said: “Lord Offord tolerates extremists, Tommy Robinson fans and Islamophobes as Reform candidates. Turns out he\u2019s got form himself with homophobia. He\u2019s not fit for public office.”<\/p>\n Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Jamie Greene said: \u201cAs a gay politician, I\u2019ve been on the receiving end of some fairly unpleasant commentary over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cYou almost come to expect it from anonymous trolls on social media. You don\u2019t, however, hear it from the mouths of political party leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t heard the joke in question, perhaps Lord Offord can share it with the rest of the country in his next TV debate.<\/p>\n \u201cSadly, nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to the bile emanating from the mouth of Reform; one wonders how much lower they might sink.\u201d<\/p>\n George Michael with partner Fadi Fawaz(Image: Twitter)<\/p>\n Scottish Greens Co-leader Gillian Mackay said: \u201cThese allegations are extremely serious and concerning. Homophobia in all forms is not only wrong, it is disgusting and does not represent the Scotland I know, at any level. I am sorry for anyone that had to endure Malcolm Offord\u2019s speech that evening, especially if they are a member of the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n \u201cScotland has no place for homophobic abuse inside or outside of politics, an apology is not going to cut it. This exposes the hateful bigotry that is rife in the Reform Party, and the fact it is coming from the top says it all.\u201d<\/p>\n An SNP spokesperson said: \u201cWhen people tell you who they are – believe them. Malcolm Offord has let the mask slip and the Scottish public will judge him accordingly come May.\u201d<\/p>\n Tory MSP Annie Wells said: \u201cHomophobia is abhorrent in any form \u2013 these comments are not acceptable for a party leader.\u201d<\/p>\n Offord stood down as chairman in 2022 after he became a Conservative peer and Minister.<\/p>\n He defected to Reform last year and was hand picked by Nigel Farage to lead the right wing party in Scotland.<\/p>\n Reform announced their Holyrood candidates last week and Offord has been under pressure over the extreme comments of some of the hopefuls.<\/p>\n One candidate, Senga Beresford, backed far right thug Tommy Robinson and called for Muslims to be deported, while Linda Holt described former SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf as an \u201cIslamist moron\u201d.<\/p>\n Offord defended the candidates by downplaying past remarks: \u201cWhat we\u2019ve got is a situation in all our lives, in the past, we\u2019ve made comments that might sometimes be intemperate, but the issue with this modern world we live in is everything is now written down and remembered.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think we have to be more realistic about the fact that real people say real things.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe\u2019re not stopping people from standing for Reform UK just because they might have said something fruity in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Malcolm Offord cracked the vile joke about the pop star’s late partner in 2018. 15:46, 24 Mar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,214173,28059,4884,11499,384,23469,712,8545,16,15],"class_list":["post-847974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scotland","tag-britain","tag-burns-night","tag-george-michael","tag-great-britain","tag-love-and-romance","tag-nigel-farage","tag-robert-burns","tag-scotland","tag-scottish-national-party","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116286428908903714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Music](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_george-michael-who-died-on-christmas-day-in-2016-is-pictured-on-stage-performing-during-the-live-a.jpeg\")
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