Tributes to ‘brittle’ Steve Wright irk me, says DJ Nicky
SINCE Steve Wright was found dead at his London flat last month there has been an outpouring of grief for the muchloved broadcaster.
This has, apparently, annoyed his fellow BBC presenter Nicky Campbell, who questions the eulogising of Wright, who was 69.
Campbell, 62, concedes that the DJ, who had a heart bypass operation shortly after being axed from his Radio 2 afternoon slot, was a ‘great person’ and ‘really likeable’.
However, he goes on to say: ‘What kind of irks me, and I’ve got this from other people I’ve known who I felt were fantastic people and who have died, and all of a sudden everyone in a sense dehumanises them and says, “Oh, they were perfect in every way”, “They floated across the water”, and all that stuff.’
Speaking to Gabby Logan on The Mid.Point podcast, he adds: ‘It dehumanises them.
‘I feel like saying, “No. Steve was complex. He could be brittle and anxious.”’
At this point in their conversation, Logan, who is also a BBC presenter, immediately changes the subject, not allowing Campbell to elaborate on
his comments. Wright’s friend Mark Wells, the former controller of ITV entertainment, said it had been a ‘bolt from the blue’ when the popular DJ was axed from his long-running Radio 2 slot in 2022.
The show’s ratings had not dropped, plus it ‘felt as good as ever’ and he ‘ was just shocked at the way it was handled, which I think was brutal’, Wells said.
Despite this, Wright stayed loyal to the BBC and turned down big-money offers from a commercial rival. He still enjoyed hosting Sunday Love Songs and Pick Of The Pops on the station, Wells added.
Wright, who divorced actress Cyndi Robinson in 1999, had an unhealthy lifestyle, said his brother Laurence.