View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
January 8, 2020updated 30 Sep 2022 8:46am

Giles Coren leaves Twitter after claiming Owen Jones followers ‘harangued’ his family at home

By Charlotte Tobitt

Times columnist Giles Coren has left Twitter after claiming online followers of the Guardian’s Owen Jones turned up at his home and “started haranguing” his wife and children.

Coren (pictured) drew ire last week over a jibe about Jones, a columnist and Labour activist, which some have claimed was homophobic, in a piece sharing his predictions for 2020 along with other Times writers.

Coren wrote: “My prediction for next year is Owen Jones getting a peerage in Corbyn’s resignation honours (does he get a go at that?) and becoming a fat old lord getting smashed on madeira in the morning and chasing young researchers with tight bottoms up and down the corridors all afternoon.”

Sharing this paragraph, which remains live on the Times website, Jones wrote on Twitter: “Not exactly subtle homophobia being printed by the Times, is it?”

Coren has since claimed he did not know Jones was gay and said his comments were a “harmless joke”.

Followers of Jones subsequently “piled on”, Coren said, adding that some tweeted at the weekend they had found his address.

“…yesterday morning a group of them went round to my house, while I was at work, and started haranguing my wife and children,” he wrote on Tuesday.

“And if these people (whom 32 per cent of the country hoped would be in power by now) are going to besiege my wife and children because of a harmless joke, then Twitter has to go.

“From now on, if you want to tell me I’m a racist, sexist, homophobic, incestuous paedophile (which is the gist of their complaint) then you’ll have to do it in the comments section below my articles. Which means buying a Times subscription. Which means everyone’s a winner.”

Jones has since written that he was “accused of orchestrating ‘pile-ons’ for defending myself against a homophobic ‘joke’ of a Times columnist”, saying this demonstrates the way left-wing activists are portrayed as a “disorderly thuggish rabble”.

Jones added that he plans to “drastically change” his relationship with Twitter, calling it an “addictive cesspit”.

Picture: News UK

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly dose of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network