Channel 4 Promotes Racist, Homophobic Fantasist

Last night Channel 4 aired “How Rich Are You?”, a one off special about supposed inequality presented by ex-BBC lefty luvvy Richard Bacon and quasi-Marxist Paul Mason. It was predictably a forum for Comrades Bacon and Mason to shore up their base, inviting Owen Jones et al along to join the party. In a carefully choreographed segment of audience interaction, the programme’s presenters sought the opinion of “Cody”, a man from Manchester who railed against the rich and claimed he was so hard done by he had to do “dodgy things” to get by. Mason’s introduction in the video below implies Cody’s appearance was teed up prior to broadcast.

Cody Aiden Lachey describes himself on Twitter as a “rough & ready former soldier”. He is in fact a fraud who was exposed after he appeared on Newsnight last year, where he was portrayed as an Afghanistan war hero despite being sent home after just two weeks for going AWOL and threatening to kill his battery Sergeant Major. Lachey is also an EDL-linked racist who told the Daily Star: “I believe we need to declare war on Islam as ALL Muslims don’t like kafirs, non-believers.” A Twitter account appearing to be run by Lachey described gay footballer Thomas Hitzelsperger as a “puff, faggot who needs castrating”. Lachey also had the following exchange with Owen Jones, confusing him with IEA wonk Ryan Bourne:

Unfortunate that the working class hero chosen by Bacon and Mason to push their quasi-Marxist world view happens to be a fraud, a racist and a homophobe…

UPDATE: Cody has confirmed he was booked by Channel 4 prior to going on. He has responded to the story here.