HE DIDN’T HAVE TO GO!
I just wanted an apology, says Twitter user in Alastair Stewart ‘ape’ race row
ITN faced a growing backlash over the ‘sacking’ of Alastair Stewart last night as even the man who complained about him said he would have settled for an apology.
Martin Shapland said the ending of the newsreader’s 40-year career was ‘ regrettable’. He added: ‘A private apology would have been more than sufficient to draw a line under this.’
ITV News was accused of overreacting to the social media spat between Stewart and Mr Shapland, who is black, in which the broadcaster quoted a Shakespeare passage about an ‘angry ape’. Mr Shapland, 34, said the remark was not isolated, but part of a series of posts that had upset him. He has since been the victim of racist abuse online.
Stewart lost his job on Wednesday, admitting to ‘a misjudgment’. Last night it emerged the 67-year-old father of four was forced to quit after previous warnings about his Twitter use. An ITV insider said it was ‘not quite as straightforward as it looks’.
A petition to reinstate the veteran newsreader attracted 26,000 signatures, while a Shakespeare scholar said the Bard used ‘ape’ to mean ‘ignorance’. Another said the use of the phrase by Shakespeare had ‘nothing to do with race’ and that idea came ‘more than 300 years later’, in the wake of Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Supporters included former equalities chief Trevor Phillips, who insisted Stewart was not a racist, adding ‘it’s ludicrous to end a career this way’. BBC broadcaster Andrew Neil said Stewart was ‘the only person to be fired for quoting Shakespeare accurately’.
Stewart’s offending tweet came on January 13 during an argument with Mr Shapland about Royal Family finances. The newsreader quoted Measure For Measure: ‘But man, proud man, Dress’d in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d – His glassy essence – like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens, Would all themselves laugh mortal.’
Describing Stewart as a disgrace, Mr Shapland shared the tweet and said: ‘Just an ITV newsreader referring to me as an ape’. He asked: ‘What say you @ITVNews?’
Yesterday Lisa Peter, senior lecturer in Shakespeare studies at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said: ‘The usage of ape in this sense of mimicry, vanity and ignorance is very common in the writing of the period. There are about 20 instances of the word being used in Shakespeare plays, mostly in the sense of fool or imitation.
‘Shakespeare’s audiences would have understood the reference in the sense of man acting in a foolish and vain manner.’
History graduate Mr Shapland said he was aware of the play but maintained it was offensive ‘to use an outdated classical text to get an association in with the word ape about a black person’.
Yesterday he wrote on Twitter: ‘There is a wider context. There was not a single post but several posts written by Mr Stewart. An apology and commitment to be more careful about language was all that I would have asked. It is regrettable that he has decided to stand down and I take no pleasure in that.’ Kate Maltby, a Financial Times columnist, tweeted that she witnessed the spat as it unfolded, saying: ‘It was much, much nastier than has been reported. It wasn’t just the “ape” quote.’
The Daily Mail has discovered that ITV did not speak to Mr Shapland, a policy manager at the Institute for Civil Engineers, before ditching Stewart, who leaves without a payout.
An insider said: ‘The thing is, this was not about just one incident, although it was the first that involved an accusation of racism.’ Another said some senior staff believed managers had looked for ‘a reason to push him’ to bring in younger, more diverse talent.
‘He gave them that opportunity with the tweet,’ they said. ‘What has happened to a man who is hugely respected and gave more than four decades to the company is very, very sad.’
Another ITV source said the case was ‘not straightforward’, saying: ‘People are saying, why not give him a final warning? Well, he had
already had that. People had looked at his twitter feed and he would comment on everything. Occasionally people saw stuff and winced a bit.’
it is understood that some of the younger staff believe the right decision was made. But a more senior colleague said: ‘there is huge support for him among many of us. he is a great professional and a legend. Alastair is certainly not a racist.’
Last night an itN source said: ‘the decision was not the result of a single tweet. there were errors and they were made in multiple tweets breaching our editorial guidelines. it is also important to make clear we were in contract negotiations and there was a mutual agreement to walk away from those negotiations. it is not action we’ve taken – he hasn’t been sacked for racism. there was a mutual agreement with all parties to walk away.’
At Stewart’s £1.7million sixbedroom farm in hampshire, a young man told reporters: ‘he will not be coming out at all.’ Stewart’s agent said: ‘Alastair has no further comment.’