• BBC axe award-winning comedian of 18 years for being 'white and male'
    52 replies, posted
[url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/01/bbc-axe-award-winning-comedian-of-18-years-for-being-white-and-m/[/url] [quote]Comedian Jon Holmes has spoken out after he was axed from Radio 4 for being 'white and male'. The radio star, who has appeared on the station's The Now Show for 18 years, was contacted by the corporation and claims he was told by bosses "we’re recasting it with more women and diversity". The 47-year-old tweeted the news this week poking fun at Jeremy Clarkson by claiming he "didn't even punch a producer". [/quote] [media]https://twitter.com/jonholmes1/status/780313745788694528[/media] [quote]Speaking out about the BBC's decision not to renew his contract, he wrote in the [I]Mail On Sunday[/I]: "Should I, as a white man (through no fault of my own), be fired from my job because I am a white man? "I mean, I know it’s a big ask and yes we’ll have to agree to draw a line under much that has gone on before, but what if we’re all just ‘people’, judged on merit? Call me crazy but what if, regardless of skin colour, or anything else, the best candidate gets the job? "I’m not even asking for mine back. That’s not the point. I just wonder, what with all the pressure about being seen to ‘get it right’, we’re actually getting it a bit wrong." He added: "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. [/quote] [quote]He revealed in the newspaper how colleagues had contacted him and shared similar experiences, including one one woman who was offered a job and later had it withdrawn for being "too white and middle class". It comes as the BBC's new diversity targets aim to ensure that women will make up half of its staff by 2020 and the number of black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds will increase to 15 per cent. 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 for hos contribution, but our comedy shows are constantly evolving and it was simply time to create opportunities for new regulars when The Now Show returns this autumn." [/quote]
[quote] "with all the pressure about being seen to ‘get it right’, we’re actually getting it a bit wrong." [/quote] This is a pretty amazing quote in my opinion
am i living in the real world anymore [quote] He revealed in the newspaper how colleagues had contacted him and shared similar experiences, including one one woman who was offered a job and later had it withdrawn for being "too white and middle class".[/quote]
This is racist.
[QUOTE=Deathtrooper2;51139276]This is racist.[/QUOTE] these are the moves of callous marketing and management teams that see dollar signs in marketing hard towards demographics they now see as more profitable to market to it is racist/sexist in effect, but not motivation then there's the second half of the issue, which is a debate over "affirmative action", when talking about introducing diversity in behind the scenes office roles [editline]1st October 2016[/editline] my point is that if you want to be constructive about preventing something like this that you see as wrong, you need to understand why it happened, or else you'll be having an argument over something as unrelated as chalking it up to "pc culture" opening a cultural dialog questioning diversifying hiring practices (or more importantly, firing practices) would be a lot more useful than stopping at "this is racist"
It's wrong to treat people unfairly based on their color By this I mean go completely in the opposite direction and treat other people unfairly based on their color
[QUOTE=Deathtrooper2;51139276]This is racist.[/QUOTE] I don't think you understand. They aren't firing him because he's white and male. They are firing him because he isn't any other race or sex. Completely different. [QUOTE=SIRIUS;51139314]Joking?[/QUOTE] Yes, poe's law is pretty absolute now a days.
[QUOTE=Thlis;51139300]I don't think you understand. They aren't firing him because he's white and male. They are firing him because he isn't any other race or sex. Completely different.[/QUOTE] Joking?
isnt this illegal in UK law
I know in america it is legal to hire actors based on gender and ethnicity but how would this work for firing people?
[QUOTE=Wii60;51139348]isnt this illegal in UK law[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=meppers;51139354]I know in america it is legal to hire actors based on gender and ethnicity but how would this work for firing people?[/QUOTE] This is just me spit-balling since I have no idea but if I were to guess, if you were discrete about it you could just say it was recasting. Just say you're putting in a new cast and crew, no details. Outright saying you are replacing someone to make it more diverse seems like it's pushing it.
So. Let me get this straight. BBC have come out and said they are sexist and racist? Oh, Wow.
[QUOTE=Thlis;51139300]I don't think you understand. They aren't firing him because he's white and male. They are firing him because he isn't any other race or sex. Completely different. Yes, poe's law is pretty absolute now a days.[/QUOTE] "They aren't firing her because she's black and female. They are firing her because she isn't any other race or sex" Sounds a little racist, wouldn't you say?
This feels like a Frank Turner song.. it's practically satire it's so ridiculous.
[QUOTE=Squad1993;51139404]"They aren't firing her because she's black and female. They are firing her because she isn't any other race or sex" Sounds a little racist, wouldn't you say?[/QUOTE] even with thlis explicitly spelling out his sarcasm, you still didn't understand
[QUOTE] “While the Government's new charter for the BBC does set us diversity targets, we always hire presenters on merit.[/QUOTE] This is utter bullshit, if this was the case then there would be no need for a diversity target because you'd hire staff on merit alone and not on race As much as he doesn't want to, he should take this to court
[QUOTE=fruxodaily;51139521]This is utter bullshit, if this was the case then there would be no need for a diversity target because you'd hire staff on merit alone and not on race As much as he doesn't want to, he should take this to court[/QUOTE] it's pretty common to end up choosing between two equally qualified candidates i'm not saying that this is what happened to the dude in the OP, but just generally speaking it's a good tie breaker
[QUOTE=bitches;51139286]these are the moves of callous marketing and management teams that see dollar signs in marketing hard towards demographics they now see as more profitable to market to it is racist/sexist in effect, but not motivation then there's the second half of the issue, which is a debate over "affirmative action", when talking about introducing diversity in behind the scenes office roles [editline]1st October 2016[/editline] my point is that if you want to be constructive about preventing something like this that you see as wrong, you need to understand why it happened, or else you'll be having an argument over something as unrelated as chalking it up to "pc culture" opening a cultural dialog questioning diversifying hiring practices (or more importantly, firing practices) would be a lot more useful than stopping at "this is racist"[/QUOTE] How are you so sure this is just a dollar sign motivated action? It isn't possible there's actually racists and sexists within the bbc who have it out for white males? Im wondering because often enough i see people claiming that the reason for different employment statistics is that either there are boldfaced racists or unconscious racists in charge of hiring practices.
[quote]"with all the pressure about being seen to ‘get it right’, we’re actually getting it a bit wrong."[/quote] this applies to the human condition in general
Affirmative Action runs on a very fine line of legality over here in the US. Landmark cases like Grutter v. Bollinger basically determined that if used in a limited scope and not as a quota, race/sex/etc. could used in consideration of school admissions but if it blatantly gives applicants a clear advantage, hence in the case of Gratz v. Bollinger where Michigan literally gave certain applicants extra points just for being a minority, that's in violation of the 14th amendment. Now if this was an American case instead, he probably would have solid grounds to sue because the BBC is a public corporation. Several states have outright banned affirmative action use by public entities. I am of the opinion that affirmative action is pretty bullshit all together but whatever, companies are gonna do what they can to pander to the masses and improve their public image. Sucks that this happened but my familiarity with British law isn't that good so I'm not exactly sure if he can even do anything.
I don't really see a problem. It's a fact that minorities are underrepresented in media, so removing an 18-year veteran to give someone from a different background a chance doesn't seem racist to me. It's not like the BBC is short of white male comedians
Not exactly a good reason to fire him. Surely there is someone shite on Radio 4 they could replace if they wanted more diversity? Isn't the BBC usually good about that anyway? Seems like a bizarre case. I feel as if there is more to it? Whatever the reason, frankly it's bizarre as fuck.
[QUOTE=Dr. Ethan Asia;51140144]I don't really see a problem. It's a fact that minorities are underrepresented in media, so removing an 18-year veteran to give someone from a different background a chance doesn't seem racist to me. It's not like the BBC is short of white male comedians[/QUOTE] Forced "equal representation" is the shittest concept. People should be hired based on their skills, not their skin and gender. It's only going to cause issues for the business in the long run, and make higher education less popular when you know it's not going to mean jack. I'm completely lost as to how anyone could say it's fair for someone to get fired or denied a job because they're not a minority or woman. Especially when they've had the job for 18 fucking years. Had this happened to anyone but a white male, there'd be freaking riots, [B]and[/B] it'd somehow been considered racist/sexist. Under representation should rather be solved by helping the "under represented" people get more qualified for- and interested in the position, not giving them a free job.
but they said reverse racism doesn't exist
[QUOTE=Thlis;51139300]I don't think you understand. They aren't firing him because he's white and male. They are firing him because he isn't any other race or sex. Completely different. Yes, poe's law is pretty absolute now a days.[/QUOTE] It's always been absolute. That's why it's called Poe's "law". You should account for it if you're bothered by it playing out. [editline]2nd October 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=SirJon;51140234]but they said reverse racism doesn't exist[/QUOTE] no, because it's all still racism.
[QUOTE=Dr. Ethan Asia;51140144]I don't really see a problem. It's a fact that minorities are underrepresented in media, so removing an 18-year veteran to give someone from a different background a chance doesn't seem racist to me. It's not like the BBC is short of white male comedians[/QUOTE] Minorities are not underrepresented as a ratio to population, they are over represented. This is just another example of political correctness going wrong, again. Imagine the liberal bleating if this situation involved a minority being sacked to make way for a white person.
[QUOTE=clutch2;51139484]This feels like a Frank Turner song.. it's practically satire it's so ridiculous.[/QUOTE] And a [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuDx6_PLIVk"]Minor Threat[/URL] song.
Remember kids, its only an act of racism and/or sexism when you're NOT white and/or male!
Seems like I was born in the wrong time period. Hate being white now
Getting real tired of this kind of shit. Why are trying to manipulate this kind of shit anyway? To please the human trash that are SJW's?
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