BBC presenter Reggie Yates has stepped down from hosting the festive season edition of Top of The Pops over the offensive remarks he made about "fat Jewish guy music" managers.
In a statement placed on his official Twitter page on Monday evening, the Radio 1 host and TV presenter said: "On a recent podcast during a discussion about grime artists I made some ill-considered remarks which have hurt many people.
"I can clearly see the words I used reinforced offensive stereotypes and that there is no context which would justify such remarks.
"My comments are no reflection on how I truly feel and I would like to apologise unreservedly to the Jewish community, people in the music industry and anyone else I have affected.
"This has been and continues to be a huge learning experience for me and on reflection I have taken the decision to step down from hosting Top Of The Pops this year."
Mr Yates made the comments on an internet podcast last month after discussing how the current 'grime' music stars differ from their predecessors.
Speaking on the podcast, Mr Yates said: "The thing that makes it great about this new generation of artists is that they ain’t signing to majors. “They’re independent, they’re not managed by some random fat Jewish guy from north west London, they’re managed by their brethren.”
His remarks were condemned by the Community Security Trust, who said they reinforced antisemitic stereotypes.
The CST's Dave Rich said: “Even worse than any offence is the message Yates gives his audience by reinforcing an anti-Semitic stereotype”.
Mr Yates had told the podcast that popular grime stars Wretch, Stormzy, Skepta as examples of people who “we’ve all known, that we’ve all come up with”.
“So it’s amazing to see now the example isn’t get hot and then give all of your publishing to these idiots. Or go and give all of your rights to these d***heads over here."
Mr Yates had been due to appear alongside presenter Fearne Cotton on the annual Festive edition of Top of the Pops.
A BBC spokesperson said: "We take these issues very seriously and Reggie is in no doubt about the BBC's view of his comments."
