BBC sacked me for being a white man says broadcaster
Radio 4 comic told: You’re the wrong sex and colour ‘Even Beeb’s ex-diversity chief says dismissal unfair’
THE BBC was at the centre of a damaging diversity row last night after one of its top radio stars was sacked for being ‘white and male’.
Bafta award-winning comedian Jon Holmes was axed from The Now Show – the hit Radio 4 programme he has appeared on for 18 years – when bosses told him ‘we’re recasting it with more women and diversity’.
Last night, leading figures from the world of entertainment and across the political spectrum reacted with fury to the BBC instigating a policy in which it was now choosing performers based on their gender or skin colour, instead of their talent.
Mr Holmes revealed that since his sacking he has heard from other stars who have been rejected by broadcasting bosses because of ‘positive discrimination’. He told how one woman presenter was given a job only later to be told ‘we can’t have you, because you are too white and middle class’. Another performer was considered ‘perfect’ for a role but could not be employed because bosses had been told to cast someone Asian, he said.
In an article for The Mail on Sunday, below, Mr Holmes said he accepted the need for diversity but asked: ‘Should I, as a white man (through no fault of my own), be fired from my job because I am a white man?’
Damningly for the BBC, he revealed that even bosses responsible for setting up the Corporation’s diversity policies had got in touch with him to say that political correctness ‘had all got out of hand’.
One executive admitted: ‘It was never about sacking people who already do the job and simply replacing them to tick a box.’
Reacting to the toxic revelations, racial equality campaigner Trevor Phillips said the removal of Mr Holmes to make way for minority performers showed the BBC ‘don’t believe black or Asian people are as good as white people’.
And actress Maureen Lipman, meanwhile, called for the sacking of the executive responsible for Mr Holmes’s removal.
Tory MP Conor Burns blamed the BBC’s idea of diversity on its ‘Notting Hill-set world view’ and said it was ‘ironic’ the row came in the same week ex-Labour Cabinet Minister James Purnell was given the job of Director of Radio, despite being ‘another middle class white man’.
Mr Holmes has been a writer and performer on The Now Show since it was first broadcast in 1997. The programme, with a weekly audience of two million, is presented by Outnumbered’s Hugh Dennis with his comedy partner Steve Punt.
Mr Holmes, 47, was left stunned by the phone call a few days ago from a female producer who told him in an ‘awkward conversation’ that he was being sacked. He said: ‘She said, “I’m afraid for the next series we are not inviting you back”.’
He later revealed his sacking in a tweet, joking: ‘And I didn’t even punch a producer,’ a reference to the reason behind Jeremy Clarkson’s sacking by the BBC from Top Gear.
Holmes’s axing follows the BBC’s April announcement of new diversity targets to ensure women will make up half of its staff by 2020, including on screen, on air and in leadership roles. It is also aiming to increase the proportion of its workforce from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds to 15 per cent by the same date, while lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people should by then make up eight per cent of staff.
But Mr Phillips – former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission – branded the decision to drop Mr Holmes on the grounds of positive discrimination ‘idiotic’.
He said: ‘They are misunderstanding what the point of the diversity drive was about. This sounds like somebody who is basically climbing their way up the greasy ladder and they think hiring black and Asian talent is part of what they have got to do to look good. But they don’t genuinely believe black or Asian people are as good as white people.’
Ms Lipman added: ‘We are talking about someone who has done some of the best work on radio. It sounds unbelievable but if someone has sacked him for not doing anything wrong, they should be sacked for being crass. If diversity really is an issue, than perhaps someone could be appointed to work alongside Jon and learn his skills.’
Mr Holmes has won two Baftas, eight Sony awards and two British Comedy awards. He co-created Radio 4’s Dead Ringers, which later transferred to BBC Two, and has been a co-writer of the Horrible Histories series for BBC One.
Leading gay activist and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was also against the decision to sack him. He said: ‘Perhaps rather than giving Jon the boot, the BBC could reduce his input and give some of his slots to women and black comedians. That would satisfy everybody.’
The BBC has been at the centre of ‘diversity’ rows in the past. In 2001, its then director-general Greg Dyke provoked a storm for declaring the Corporation was ‘hideously white’.
Ten years later, former BBC presenter Miriam O’Reilly won a case for age discrimination after she was dropped from BBC rural affairs show Countryfile.
In 2014, then director of BBC Television Danny Cohen said the Corporation could no longer accept all-male panels on comedy series.
A BBC spokesman thanked Mr Holmes for his ‘excellent and memorable’ contributions, adding: ‘Our comedy shows are constantly evolving and it is time to create opportunities for new regulars as the show returns this autumn.’