Post by Libby on Feb 3, 2009 19:51:18 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7868401.stm
Carol Thatcher will no longer work on The One Show after being reported for making a racist remark, the BBC has announced.
The former prime minister's daughter referred to a tennis player as a "golliwog" backstage during filming of the BBC One programme.
However, the 55-year-old will not be banned from the BBC as a whole.
The corporation said it had hoped Thatcher would issue an unconditional apology but she had declined to do so.
Her spokesman told The Times she made the remark in a conversation with the show's presenter Adrian Chiles in the green room and it was "meant as a joke".
"Carol never intended any racist comment," he said.
"She made a light aside about this tennis player and his similarity to the golliwog on the jam pot when she was growing up.
"There's no way, obviously, that she would condone any racist comment - we would refute that entirely. It would not be in her nature to do anything like that.
"It is disgusting that we've had a leak of private conversations in the green room - the BBC has more leaks than Thames Water.
"Carol is mortified that anyone should take offence at a silly joke. She has summarily apologised."
According to press reports, the comment was made during a conversation about the Australian Open tennis tournament, in reference to a player who had recently been knocked out of the men's singles draw.
The BBC has said it considers any language of a racist nature "wholly unacceptable".
Thatcher, crowned Queen of the Jungle in the 2005 series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, was a regular contributor to the BBC One prime-time magazine show.
Carol Thatcher will no longer work on The One Show after being reported for making a racist remark, the BBC has announced.
The former prime minister's daughter referred to a tennis player as a "golliwog" backstage during filming of the BBC One programme.
However, the 55-year-old will not be banned from the BBC as a whole.
The corporation said it had hoped Thatcher would issue an unconditional apology but she had declined to do so.
Her spokesman told The Times she made the remark in a conversation with the show's presenter Adrian Chiles in the green room and it was "meant as a joke".
"Carol never intended any racist comment," he said.
"She made a light aside about this tennis player and his similarity to the golliwog on the jam pot when she was growing up.
"There's no way, obviously, that she would condone any racist comment - we would refute that entirely. It would not be in her nature to do anything like that.
"It is disgusting that we've had a leak of private conversations in the green room - the BBC has more leaks than Thames Water.
"Carol is mortified that anyone should take offence at a silly joke. She has summarily apologised."
According to press reports, the comment was made during a conversation about the Australian Open tennis tournament, in reference to a player who had recently been knocked out of the men's singles draw.
The BBC has said it considers any language of a racist nature "wholly unacceptable".
Thatcher, crowned Queen of the Jungle in the 2005 series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, was a regular contributor to the BBC One prime-time magazine show.
