LGBTQ+ activist James Barr and Piers Morgan had a heated conversation when the latter appeared on the latest episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, which aired on June 5, 2026. For those uninformed, James Barr is a comedian, broadcaster, LGBTQ+ advocate, and host of the podcast A Gay and a Non-Gay.
James Barr has appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored several times over the past years and has often clashed with Morgan over issues surrounding the LGBTQ+ community. This time, the two debated about Pride Month, which falls in June, with Morgan asking Barr whether he knew the full acronym of the community and what it stood for.
When Barr replied that he advocated for the LGBTQ+ community, Morgan corrected him, saying it was LGBTQIA2SL+, and asked him to explain what all the letters stood for. Barr replied that “QIA” stood for “queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual.”
Guest Michael Knowles further explained that 2S stood for “two-spirit.” According to the Whats On Queer BC website, 2S refers to a “culturally-specific identity used by some Indigenous people to indicate a person whose gender identity, spiritual identity and/or sexual orientation comprises both male and female spirits.”
During the interview, Barr seemed unaware of what “2S” stood for, which prompted Piers Morgan to criticize him for advocating for a community without understanding what it truly meant.
“As a gay man, I am supporting anyone who is in the LGBTQ+ community… you’re trying to cancel me within my own community… I think in the U.K. we don’t have two-spirit so I’m not completely across that,” James Barrr replied.
Piers Morgan then asked whether he would like to apologize to the two-spirit community for not knowing them, and Barr did apologize. Morgan then said the real problem was that he was spending a month celebrating something he couldn’t even explain.
More about James Barr
Not much is known about James Barr’s early life. The comedian opened up about coming out to his family in a 2017 interview with Celeb Mix, suggesting that his parents initially had a hard time accepting him when he told them he was gay. However, he also revealed that his mother was now very supportive of him.
In 2015, he and his friend Dan Hudson began hosting the A Gay and A NonGay podcast, which “reluctantly began when James friend Talia moved abroad, leaving he and her boyfriend to fend for themselves” as per their website. The podcast was nominated for Best Entertainment Podcast at the British Podcast Awards in 2017 and won the bronze for Best Comedy Award at the British Podcast Awards in 2018.
In 2017, James Barr became a presenter on Heat Radio and MTV. The same year, he hosted the Student Pride Festival in London. Barr was also a columnist for Attitude Magazine and has interviewed celebrities including Ariana Grande, Troye Sivan, Charli XCX, and Justin Bieber.
In 2018, he premiered his debut comedy show titled Thirst Trap. The following year, he began hosting the Hits Radio Breakfast with Fleur East and Will Best. And in 2024, he released his second comedy show titled Sorry I Hurt Your Son (Said My Ex to My Mum), which detailed his relationship with his former partner. The show’s title came from a Christmas card his ex gave to his mother with the message, “Sorry I hurt your son.”
The show also touched on queer domestic abuse, with James Barr explaining in a 2025 interview with Top 10 Films:
“It’s important to tell a story like mine through comedy because laughter helps disarm stigma and defeat shame. I had to learn how to talk about something painful and make it f**king funny. That meant completely relearning comedy.”
He continued:
“Every single joke had to serve the story. Nothing could undercut the truth or diminish the weight of it. It’s been a constant balancing act: how do I make people feel comfortable enough to laugh at something they’d usually squirm at? That’s been the challenge, but it’s also the magic trick and now that I’ve cracked it, I’m obsessed.”
James Barr’s Sorry I Hurt Your Son (Said My Ex to My Mum) first premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024.
Edited by Juhi Marzia