A Russian sitcom actor has caused controversy by telling fans this week that he thinks gay people are “a living danger” to his children, and that he would burn all gay people alive.

Ivan Okhlobystin addressed fans of the Russian show ‘Interns’, which is directly influenced by the US show ‘Scrubs’, in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, reports The Moscow Times.

“I’d put them all alive in the oven … it’s a living danger to my children,” he was quoted to have said, going on to rant about “gay fascism”, and, calling gay people “faggots” and a “physical anomaly”, saying they should be stripped of voting rights.

The 47-year old is known across Russia as an extravagant personality in the media, and served as an Orthodox Christian priest until 2010, when his priesthood was suspended.

He also made a brief bid for the Russian presidency in 2011, and pledged proceeds from a book towards the regime in Syria.

Interns was rated the best television show of 2012 in Russia, in a state-run survey by VTsIOM, in December 2012.

Earlier this week, a TV presenter who said gay people should not be allowed to donate sperm or blood, and that their hearts should not even be used, as they are “unfit for extending anyone’s life”, was appointed to run Vladimir Putin’s new TV network.

In a fresh attempt to dismiss concerns about LGBT athletes attending February’s Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi, President Putin last month declared he was against “hatred” towards people of a “non-traditional sexual orientation” – whilst continuing to support the country’s homophobic legislation.