Allsopp: politically correct execs told me to tone it down
Presenter says she was issued edict telling her ‘darling’ could be a term of sexual harassment
A PROPERTY guru and queen of all things craft, Kirstie Allsopp has also been no stranger to controversy thanks to her habit of speaking her mind.
And the 46-year-old presenter of Location, Location, Location has now revealed how bosses at a production company issued her with an “edict” demanding she tone things down for today’s more politically correct audience.
The mother of two says she was told that some of her more challenging words and phrases could even be seen as bordering on sexual harassment.
In an interview, she said bosses at a production company issued her with a proclamation that triggered a stark response about her thoughts on modernday attitudes.
Referring to the edict from executives at the unnamed company, she said: “It said that use of affectionate terms such as ‘darling’ constitute sexual harassment. I said, ‘This is ridiculous.’ It’s belittling an incredibly important document about disability language, sexist language and racist language. That’s what frustrates me about this whole debate.”
However, she agreed that some of her earlier flirting and knowing asides to camera with her co-host, Phil Spencer on Location, Location, Location would simply be unacceptable for today. Allsopp and Spencer, 48, both referred to “silly jokes” they shared on screen. In one such incident they recalled him joking about looking up her skirt as she ascended a ladder.
Referring to the allegations made against
‘Phil making a silly comment about looking up my skirt is not [bullying]’
film mogul Harvey Weinstein, she said people should know the difference between idle banter and sexual harassment and bullying.
“It’s really important that anyone who has been in a compromising situation in the workplace where they feel unhappy and bullied should be able to stick their hand up,” she told The Times.
“Phil making a silly comment about looking up my skirt is not that. There is a difference and we all need to know the difference. Funny as it would be seeing Phil hauled up, it’d never happen. I have never come across a man more respectful of women.”
Although she claimed some shows had been re-edited to remove jokes for today’s more sensitive audience, Channel 4 denied that any had been cut.
Allsopp, the daughter of the 6th Baron Hindlip and so entitled to call herself the Honourable Kirstie Allsopp, is no stranger to controversy.
Earlier this year, she was “attacked and mocked” on Twitter after she declared that having a washing machine in the kitchen was “disgusting”. Instead, she said such contraptions should be consigned to the “tiny laundry room”, bathroom, hall or airing cupboard.
In 2014, she caused controversy after she told The Daily Telegraph that if she had a daughter she would tell her to shun university and instead buy a flat, find a boyfriend and have a baby by the age of 27.