TalkSport presenters fail to call out hate slur

Dave Rich, communications director for the Community Security Trust said: “The lack of condemnation and apology, both from the presenters at the time and from @talkSPORT since, is much, much worse and more damaging than the original racist comment.”

He said the fact that it was cut from the live show and left to go online "adds a new complexity to the antisemitic comment" and it was "worth presenters and broadcasters remembering that there are listeners/viewers online as well as on radio."

In the clip Mr Groves could be seen to make a shocked expression while Mr Bryan, who is also a Channel 4 reporter, cut the caller off and moved the conversation on. 

Both were widely condemned online for missing a vital opportunity to challenge racism.

In a statement Tottenham Hotspur said: "We were appalled that neither presenter addressed the comment, failing to call out the antisemitic trope.

"We are under no doubt that if an equivalent comment had been made regarding an individual’s race or other protected characteristic, the response would have been immediate and far-reaching.

"It cannot be acceptable that antisemitism does not receive the same level of condemnation as other forms of discrimination and efforts to tackle it should be no less rigorous."

I don’t know what’s worse the caller or the presenter not calling him out immediately instead of trying to move on @talkSPORT pic.twitter.com/3WVI29ac88

— Scott Spurling (@scottspurling1) August 3, 2021

Board of Deputies vice president Amanda Bowman said: “It is extremely disturbing to see footage of two TalkSport presenters failing to challenge an antisemitic caller particularly as both presenters have been vocal about the need to confront racism. 

"We hope that Talk Sport will give these presenters the opportunity to address this live on air making clear that they should have confronted such blatant anti Jewish Racism and pledging to do better in future."

While Andrew Percy MP, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism told the Jewish News he had written to the station’s head Lee Clayton to ask what action they were taking.

Responding to the criticism head of talkSPORT, Lee Clayton said: "We are all appalled by the comment that was made by a caller during a live YouTube broadcast of The Sports Bar. There is absolutely no room for discrimination of any kind in society.

“We are deeply sorry to Tottenham and, especially, to chairman Daniel Levy, as well as their supporters and the Jewish community for the offence caused by this hateful comment, which should never have been broadcast.

“The comment was rightly dumped on our radio station, where we broadcast with a slight delay to ensure any unexpected and inappropriate comments don’t make it to air. It was, however, streamed live on the talkSPORT YouTube channel, which we are currently testing and which awaits a similar profanity/offence delay. Our team did not take our YouTube stream into consideration and therefore the comments were not challenged as they should have been for our viewers on YouTube. 

“It is unacceptable that the comment appeared anywhere and as broadcast partners of the Premier League, we take our position very seriously. We are comprehensively reviewing all of our processes, involving our teams across programming, social media and compliance.

“We have suspended live broadcasting on YouTube until we can be sure we have the same processes and protections in place as we have for our radio broadcasting.”

Jordan Jarrett Bryan tweeted: "I'd also like to apologise for what happened in the YouTube broadcast. While that deeply offensive comment didn’t reach the ears of radio listeners, YouTube viewers watched it play out without challenge & that’s not OK. I'm against anti-semitism & all forms of racism".