He will rise again
I didn't have this blog in 2001. If I had done, I doubt I'd have received quite as many emails after the attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11 as I have done since the news broke that Jon Gaunt has been sacked from TalkSport over the "Nazi" insult described previously. It is beneath me to gloat about the fate of a fellow broadcaster (I actually don't think he should have been sacked, merely reprimanded, despite the loud-mouthed, bullying nature of the interview - it's the climate of fear and that climate can affect us all), but it is at least reassuring to know I have become a lightning rod for Gaunt-based news. Thank you for keeping me abreast.
He's been let go from radio stations before. It comes with the territory. It won't stop him from calling people a "Nazi", even if he has to do it at a bus stop. For balance, here's the story as reported in the Independent, and here it is as reported in The Sun, for whom he is a still a well-remunerated columnist.
A quote, though, from the Independent's interview with him in January this year: "I'm Jon Gaunt. I've got a column in The Sun, a national radio show and I'm constantly on telly."
posted by Andrew Collins @ 7:59 AM
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However there's an opening on Talk Sport now. So the big question is, exactly how much do you know about sport Andrew?
Simon in Sunny Sevenoaks
Sacked and then pixelated in the same day. You picture nazi, I'm going to see if you are on the BNP list.
Andrew did you see Charlie Brooker's new Screen Wipe series opener last night? I very much enjoyed his take on the whole Brand and Ross affair. Probably because it completely coincided with my own but he does it with such relish.
I know I'm at a tangent again but it's not completey unrelated to the subject of Ganut (that was a mistake but I liked it, it has a nice ring to it) being sacked for radio offensivenessesesesess.
To quote someone on the Sun website commenting on Gauntys departure....
"If Talksport don't reinstate Gaunty they will find their viewing figures will have dropped by a vast number not just one! "
To me, that pretty much just about sums everything up.
Maybe they'll find somone how who actually accepts that people can have different view points to the presenter without being cut off or abused.
I did like his excuse that he was sorry for calling the councillor a Nazi when he had meant a 'health Nazi'.
I don't think he should
have been sacked either because it is just more grist for his unseemly mill.
The man is an obnoxious fool and I disagree with his views entirely and I shan't lose too much sleep over his sacking. However I don't think this episode will change him any or make him think twice before spouting off at someone he has no right to spout off at.
When i saw the headline 'Talk Sport DJ sacked for being in BNP', i thought it was G-unt-y. But it appears it is another of their DJ's.
Just to kick him a little more while he's down, typing 'British National Party members list' into Google came up with a picture of Gaunty nest to the headline 'DJ named on BNP membership list'. It isn't him though but some freelance bloke named Rod.
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TalkSport seem a bit trigger-happy don't they? Didn't James Whale get sacked for telling people to vote Boris, whilst George Lamb almost did the same thing on a different station and lived to fight another day.
(Sorry. There probably needs to be a version of Godwin's law on Collings' blog for the tousle-haired mockney one).
I've just belatedly listened to the clip and have to say I think it's right he's been sacked. He's clearly not even remotely sorry for what he said (see article in Independent today where he still seems bemused by the whole affair) but the fact is he called someone a Nazi - he may have apologised to the listeners for "losing it" but refused to apologise to the squeaky bloke - which he should have.
Bye bye Gaunty.
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