Journalist walks off Sky News after presenters play down LGBT link to Orlando massacre

This is, as the journalist says, one of the most astonishing things you'll see on television.

'Guardian' writer Owen Jones, himself a gay man, walked out of a live Sky News segment on Sunday night after a heated debate with presenters Julia Hartley-Brewer and Mark Longhurst. Jones grew more and more exasperated throughout the interview as the panel discussed the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, in which Omar Mateen shot dead more than 50 people at the gay venue. With Jones insisting that Mateen's act was a hate crime against gay people, Longhurst interrupted and said the crime had been carried out against “human beings” who were “ trying to enjoy themselves, whatever their sexuality".

“I’m sorry, I just find this the most astonishing thing I’ve ever been involved in on television,” Jones said. "If [Mateen had] walked into a synagogue and massacred dozens of Jewish people, you wouldn’t be saying what you’re saying now. "You would be talking about it as an anti-semitic attack. This was a deliberate attack on LGBT people.”

After Hartley-Brewer suggested that Mateen could equally have carried out his actions against her, "a gobby woman," Jones was unable to speak further and a couple of minutes later walked off the set. Watch the entire build up to Jones walking off here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEgd9q8ugs4&feature=youtu.be A lot of people are applauding Jones for what he did. https://twitter.com/CornflakeDaddy/status/742114304611258372 https://twitter.com/BeardedGenius/status/742136492521295872 https://twitter.com/AdamWSweeney/status/742250067793444864 https://twitter.com/superlukee_/status/742250001301164032 https://twitter.com/laurasnapes/status/742249209127182336 https://twitter.com/CarolineRussell/status/742249115413819392 https://twitter.com/tianran/status/742245772649992192 https://twitter.com/angelaeagle/status/742245575429591040 https://twitter.com/Elizigan/status/742245163846750208 https://twitter.com/anyabike/status/742245044070064128