Women are only after one thing – and it's not the same thing that men are after. So Stephen Fry suggests in an interview in Attitude magazine. The popular comedian, actor, writer, presenter and all round know-it-all has had a terrible week over remarks so un-PC, he's in danger of sounding like a gay Jeremy Clarkson.

He has expressed sympathy for straight men who feel they disgust women, believing that, "The only reason women will have sex with them is that sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship with a man, which is what they want." He went on to say that women will "of course deny this", before asking, "But do they go around having it the way that gay men do?" While most women are not roaming the heaths to, as he delicately puts it, "meet strangers to shag behind a bush", he may have resurrected a number of stereotypes thought to have been consigned to history – not least, that of the promiscuous gay on the prowl in public parks for clandestine brief encounters.

Fry subsequently tweeted he was misquoted in what was a "humorous" interview. Whatever the context, his remarks sound oddly soulless, as if he perceives sex as a business proposition. Critics also see his comments as un-characteristically conformist, coming from a man who should be well aware of the varied relationships that encompass female sexuality. Or, as Woody Allen once put it in a similar context: "Let's not forget my favourite – two women."

Misquoted or not, this is not the first time the king of Twitter has come across as a twit. His fellow thespian and pal Emma Thompson spoke of the time Fry stayed at her home, when she delighted in walking around naked just to see him recoil in horror. The impression was that, like Boy George, he preferred a nice cup of tea rather than anything more energetic.

For the first 15 years of his career, celibacy was the closest thing he embraced. Then around 10 years ago, England's most outed celibate threw away the Earl Grey, found love and a relationship with 25-year-old actor Steven Webb.

It was back in those wilderness days that Fry starred alongside fellow actors such as Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, and comic sidekick Hugh Laurie in the big screen luvvie fest that was Peter's Friends. He was the perfect Jeeves to Laurie's Wooster, and, most memorably, frighteningly funny as Blackadder's scheming Lord Melchett. By contrast, he spoke about his manic depression in a revealing 2006 BBC documentary. He is now one of the small screen's most prolific presenters and respected by even the most homophobic couch potato. Fry's shtick is saving the white rhino, discovering America and hosting the brain-box panel game QI.

But last week, his remarks in a 2003 interview must have come back to haunt him. "There are times when you read about yourself and get the impression the whole country thinks you're some ghastly poof who should be put down – you know, an embittered journalist doing a 'who the hell does Stephen Fry think he is?' piece." Still, provoking debate on sexual mores is generally a good thing in this sexualised age, and the most ardent Fry fans are unlikely to find his comments last week that big a turn-off.