Radio presenter and travel writer Jon Holmes has said he was axed from satirical programme, The Now Show on BBC Radio Four, to allow for more women and minorities.
In a message on Twitter he said: “Sad to announce I’ve been axed from @BBCNowShow as ‘we want to recast with more women and diversity’ Tsk. And I didn’t even punch a producer.”
Sad to announce I’ve been axed from @BBCNowShow as ‘we want to recast with more women and diversity’ Tsk. And I didn’t even punch a producer
— Jon Holmes (@jonholmes1) September 26, 2016
Holmes has been a writer and performer on the programme, which also stars Outnumbered’s Hugh Dennis and Steve Punt, since it was first aired in 1997.
He wrote in an article for the Mail on Sunday that he received a call from a producer, who said: ‘I’m afraid for the next series, we’re not inviting you back. We’re recasting it with more women and diversity’.
He continues: “Should I, as a white man (through no fault of my own), be fired from my job because I am a white man? Arguably, yes. You may well think I’m crap on The Now Show, and that’s fine, but to be told it’s because I’m the wrong sex and colour? I’m just not sure that’s helpful to anyone’s cause.
“I just wonder, what with all the pressure about being seen to ‘get it right’, we’re actually getting it a bit wrong.
Homes (left), presents the show with Outnumbered’s Hugh Dennis (standing) and Steve Punt.
“The term ‘positive discrimination’ is bandied around, but I’m not sure that anything that discriminates is that positive really, because it’s, well, discrimination. I don’t think that discrimination of any kind is ever positive, however well intentioned everyone thinks they are, because someone is always going to lose out based on something they can’t help.”
The BBC has shut down claims that Holmes was sacked because of diversity, saying that it was time to “create opportunities for new regulars”.
In April the organisation revealed its goal to have “a workforce at least as diverse, if not more so, than any other in the industry” by 2020.
Under its targets, women would represent 50 per cent of its workers, while Black, Asians and minority ethnics (BAME) would make up 15 per cent of on-screen staff.
A BBC spokesperson said: “While the Government’s new charter for the BBC does set us diversity targets, we always hire presenters on merit.
“We’d like to thank both Jon Holmes and Mitch Benn for their contributions, but – as we explained almost a week ago when the story first appeared in newspapers – our comedy shows are constantly evolving and it was simply time to create opportunities for new regulars when The Now Show returns this autumn.”
