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LBC star James O'Brien was accused of "going nuclear" in a rant about Reform UK leader Nigel Farage - and plenty of listeners turned to social media to slam him for "hypocrisy". Speaking on his radio programme, O'Brien fumed: "Do you wanna know a secret? They tried to get us to pre-submit questions for approval at 5 o'clock yesterday.

"I presume all media organisations were only going to be allowed to ask [Farage] a question if they pre-submitted it for approval. This is the great champion of free speech - 'Yes, we would like to ask Nigel Farage just how he has ended up being so wonderful!'

"Nigel Farage who will talk about anything, anywhere, any time, any place - except the James O'Brien programme, which he's [been] too terrified to appear on for 12 years and counting.

"And then even after trying to introduce that hideous measure, pulling out of the whole thing because he's a massive coward!"

Plenty of fans chimed in to agree with the presenter, but some were left fuming.

One X user tweeted in response to the segment: "Oh all stop being drama queens, we all know if Farage goes on James will just keep repeating questions if he doesn't like the answer, and it achieves nothing but to boost the shock jock's radio ratings. To be fair it's also just LBC, calm the f*** down."

Somebody else said: "Free speech is not about an obligation to speak to anyone."

However, another listener posted: "A massive coward - James is a ledge!"

"Nigel Farage is the British version of Trump, he's modelled himself just like him bar the orange skin and Dougal from the Magic Roundabout wig on his head," another posted. "Trump hates scrutiny too, especially if it's a woman reporter. If people think Nige is the answer? Then they've forgotten the question."

Another tweeted: "James O'Brien just went nuclear: ''Farage is a massive coward.' Says he's banged on about free speech for 12 years but won't come on LBC, even tried pre-approved questions then still bottled it."