‘Sorry for disgusting remark on disability’
RADIO 1 DJ Greg James has apologised after seeming to link disability with being “disgusting”.
Writing partners Greg and the station’s former newsreader Chris Smith were among 13 authors asked to pen stories based on Roald Dahl’s The Twits characters.
In a now-removed promotional video, they discussed how to make The Twits Next Door characters more revolting before settling on a glass eye.
Greg, 38, said: “We are so sorry to have caused offence. It was absolutely not our intention and we apologise unreservedly.”
He explained the glass eye was to pay homage to a prank in the original book, involving a glass of beer.The DJ added: “We would never dream of deliberately setting out to exclude anyone.”
Unacceptable
He also said it was right for the incident to be flagged up.
In the clip, Greg and Chris discussed how to make the characters more revolting, with illustrator Emily Jones suggesting a glass eye.
Greg agrees before Chris added: “She needs a glass eye.What a disgusting pair of Twits!”
A Royal National Institute of Blind People spokesman said: “There is nothing at all revolting about prosthetic eyes.”
Elsewhere, the CEO of disability charity Sense, Richard Kramer, said: “The advertisement is totally unacceptable and has rightly been removed by Puffin Books. Disability is not a character flaw.”
It comes a year after it was revealed that Puffin had hired sensitivity readers to rewrite some of Dahl’s work to ensure his books “can continue to be enjoyed by all”, resulting in changes across the author’s work.
Puffin Books and the Roald Dahl Company were asked to comment.