Cyril Hanouna: French host humiliated gay men on live TV

French TV host Cyril Hanouna. Photo / Getty

The presenter of a popular TV show in France is under fire after he made what his critics say was a humiliating and homophobic prank call to young gay men live on air.

A record number of people have complained after Cyril Hanouna posted a spoof ad on a gay dating website and made fun of people who responded live on air, reports the BBC.

He used a feminine tone of voice and tricked those he spoke to into revealing their sexual fantasies.

Cyril Hanouna on the set of his TV show. Photo / Getty

One of the victims was left in a "state of appalling distress", LGBT campaigners said.

Nearly 20,000 complaints about the segment on Mr Hanouna's nightly show Touche pas à mon poste had been made to the media regulator by Monday afternoon, reports said.

At the time, Hanouna said he was only joking: "it's just a joke, can't we have a bit of fun any more?"

Joël Deumier, president of SOS Homophobie said the segment was "scandalous, shameful and homophobic".

"When you let people get away with behaviour like this, you trivialise homophobic discourse. The sketch was deeply homophobic," he said, quoted by the Gay Times.

Daphnee and Cyril Hanouna during Magazine Top Model 2005 Final Party in Paris, France. Photo / Getty

It is not the first time his show has been the subject of complaints about sexism and homophobia.

In October a male guest on his show kissed a female guest on her breast after she rebuffed his requests for a kiss.

That prompted more than 250 people, including then women's rights minister Laurence Rossignol, to complain to the regulator.