SEX SWAPS WILL SOLVE BEEB CRISIS
But blokes to sue in equality rumpus IT’S GLAST-OFF AS BBC REVEAL MUSIC FESTIVAL
THE BBC is set to stage its own mega Glastonbury-style festival next year.
Beeb bosses have announced “The Biggest Weekend” in 2018 to coincide with Glastonbury’s fallow year. The one-off event will be held at venues in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over the late May bank holiday weekend, with 175,000 tickets available.
Coverage of the gigs will be ®
WOMEN are set to replace men as presenters of a host of BBC television and radio shows in a bid to close the gender pay gap.
Director-general Lord Hall has promised to end salary differences between the sexes by 2020.
Celebrities whose positions may be under threat include Graham Norton, who is paid £900,000 a year by the BBC, and Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine, who pockets £750,000. But the move could bring a series of sex discrimination claims from angry men.
A legal source said last night: “The BBC are really in a mess over this.
“If they increase women’s pay to match men’s they will blow the budget.
“And if they replace men with women to try and even things out, the blokes will have grounds for sex discrimination payouts too.”
Only a third of the list of the corporation’s 96 best-paid stars are female.
Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has called on male colleagues to back the women’s fight for pay equality.
She tweeted: “They are all kindly and supportively messaging us in private. #nowgopublic.'”
A BBC spokesman said yesterday the broadcaster would not discuss future contracts in public. similar to that at Glastonbury, the Beeb said.
Bob Shennan, director of BBC Radio and Music, said: “BBC Music has a history of bringing the nation together for some special moments. This is the biggest single music event ever attempted by the BBC.
“We will be celebrating the diversity of music from four different corners of the UK, bringing the best music to the UK.”