BBC drops Carol Thatcher over 'golliwog' remark



LONDON (AFP) - The BBC has dropped former British premier Margaret Thatcher's daughter from one of its programmes after she used the word "golliwog" to describe a tennis player, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Carol Thatcher allegedly made the comment during a conversation with fellow presenters after Thursday's filming for the television programme, in which she has appeared as a regular roving reporter for the last three years.



BBC drops Carol Thatcher over 'golliwog' remark
The presenters reported her off-air remark about a player at the Australian Open tennis to senior staff, sparking another scandal at the publicly-funded corporation that has only just emerged from a row over two of its comedians.
"We're no longer going to be working with her on 'The One Show'," a BBC spokesman told AFP. She would, however, continue working on other BBC projects.
He said Thatcher's comments would widely be seen as "unacceptable," and given that her job on the show was to talk to a diverse range of people, "it's very difficult to continue in that capacity."
The spokesman rejected the suggestion that Thatcher's comments were private as "wrong", saying they were made in the presence of members of the public.
The word "golliwog," referring to a black doll-like character, was once widely used including as the emblem of a leading make of British jam, but in recent decades has been dropped after claims it was racist.
It was not clear to which tennis player Thatcher -- a journalist who is a regular on the after-dinner speaking circuit -- had referred.
Thatcher's spokeswoman was not immediately available, but the Times newspaper quoted her as saying the comment was an "off-the-cuff remark made in jest," adding she had apologised to the show's producer.
The BBC, Britain's public service broadcaster, has been rocked by a series of scandals in recent years, including a major row last October over offensive comments by top presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.
Ross was suspended for 12 weeks for the remarks, about Brand having slept with the granddaughter of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs, while Brand resigned from his BBC radio show.
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Image of Carol Thatcher, seen here in 2006, by Max Nash.

Wednesday, February 4th 2009
AFP
           


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