Liz Kershaw blasts Beeb for shabby way it handled Wright
steve Wright was ‘dumped by the BBC and treated like a tin of beans’, former colleague Liz Kershaw claimed yesterday amid an outpouring of shock over his death.
Close friend and DJ Ms Kershaw, who worked at the Beeb for more than 30 years, lambasted its bosses for its alleged ‘shabby’ treatment of Wright, who died aged 69 on Monday.
Her outburst came as staff at Radio 2 were said to be furious at station chief Helen thomas issuing a statement to pay tribute to the much-loved DJ less than 18 months after axing his popular Afternoon show and moving him to a sunday slot.
It emerged that Wright was found dead at his £2million London flat on Monday morning after paramedics revealed they were ‘called to reports of an incident’.
His unexpected death is not being treated as suspicious, said police, with a report being prepared for the coroner.
A London Ambulance service spokesperson said: ‘We sent a number of resources to the scene. very sadly, a person was pro
nounced dead at the scene.’ A last picture of the legendary broadcaster emerged yesterday showing Wright larking around and taking ‘ironic selfies’ with a friend in new York just ago.
But the BBC faced pressure to answer questions over how they treated him when they axed his afternoon slot after 24 years.
Ms Kershaw, who was let go by BBC 6Music in 2022 after 20 years, said: ‘new management said, “We’re going to refresh the schedule”. And they treat people like tins of beans on a shelf.
‘I doubt that there was any follow-up, or any pastoral care, or any support for him.
‘He didn’t need money as he has been one of the highest-paid people on air but I wonder if they considered how it affected him.
‘there are some people for whom fame and attention are their oxygen. And he was one of those – it was absolutely his life.’
Ms thomas found herself under fire with employees ‘enraged’ at her for saying father-of-two Wright was ‘second to none’.
sources claimed that Ms thomas ‘should have just kept her mouth shut’ with them branding her statement as ‘shameless’ and ‘tone deaf’.