Kevin Myers: ‘Anti-semitic column ending my career’

[Deleted]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-4080...ding-my-career

A sacked Sunday Times columnist who suggested Vanessa Feltz and Claudia Winkleman earned high salaries because they were Jewish, has told BBC 5 live that his comments have ended his career.

Speaking to Emma Barnett, Kevin Myers said he “retracts everything he said” and apologises for his comments.

His article on BBC equal pay was in the paper's Irish edition and online.

Video in link

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Another link relating to the incident http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40773710

[Kaeth]

Let's start a pool, everyone! How many posts until this thread devolves into "but freedom of speech!" complaints about ... a British man who wasn't censored by his government and was merely forced to face the consequences of a poor decision?

I'm going to say ... five.

[Spectral]

It's pretty funny that he thinks groveling is going to make him appealing to anyone going forward.

[Azadina]

So, is he sorry because there was consequences to what he said, and he got them, or is he sorry because he didn't mean what he said?

[Independent voter]

Why would the BBC pay Jews more? I don't think so.

[Techno-Druid]

Let's start a pool, everyone! How many posts until this thread devolves into "but freedom of speech!" complaints about ... a British man who wasn't censored by his government and was merely forced to face the consequences of a poor decision?

I'm going to say ... five.

Yes, many people seem to lack an understanding of what freedom of speech is. I remember someone who commented that climate change denialism should be treated as a conspiracy theory, one of the responses basically preceded to bash the OP for being against free speech.

[Deleted]

A Holocaust denier who also once said 'Africa is giving nothing to anyone – apart from AIDS'.

He can fuck off.

[Deleted]

Why would the BBC pay Jews more? I don't think so.

Jews do actually get paid more. I suspect, because they work harder.

[Spectral]

A Holocaust denier who also once said 'Africa is giving nothing to anyone – apart from AIDS'.

He can fuck off.

To be fair, the ebola outbreak hadn't hit yet, right? And maybe he just isn't familiar with rare earth metals...

[JohnBrown1917]

Let's start a pool, everyone! How many posts until this thread devolves into "but freedom of speech!" complaints about ... a British man who wasn't censored by his government and was merely forced to face the consequences of a poor decision?

I'm going to say ... five.

I just wish that everyone was treated the same. I'm going to fulfill Kaeth's wish but with a different spin (because I do honestly believe in free speech). I Just wish the rules were the same for all people, all races, all religions across the board.

My favorite game to play is replace "white male" with "Jew" or "white people" with "Jews" etc, and see how long it takes for a leftist journalist to sound like a complete nazi.

Close, but it was 7 posts.

[tehealadin]

I just wish that everyone was treated the same. I'm going to fulfill Kaeth's wish but with a different spin (because I do honestly believe in free speech). I Just wish the rules were the same for all people, all races, all religions across the board.

My favorite game to play is replace "white male" with "Jew" or "white people" with "Jews" etc, and see how long it takes for a leftist journalist to sound like a complete nazi.

They don't have the same historical baggage. So on one level, it is like comparing apples and oranges. And the kind of people who talk in those terms aren't comparable in terms of the harm that they cause/have caused. The SJW's writing articles about how bad white men are haven't done the same kind of harm as neo nazi skin heads, nor are they as threatening/intimidating. And generally, comments about "fuck white men" usually aren't the precursor to physical violence, as talk about "dem damn Jews" has been. So to reiterate, I think they aren't the same, on one level.

On another level, I think you are absolutely right. I think everyone should be entitled to the same protections. I know this isn't the action of a nation state, but a private entity, so different rules apply, non the less, people have an inherent sense of fairness, and when it is ok to criticise one group for being x, but not another, there is inherent unfairness to this, even if the relative harm isn't equal, and I think this can be divisive. I do think that some things should be ok, or not ok, across the board, and when we use historical precedence to determine if an act is ok or not, or even relative harm*, then it will be difficult for societies to move forward.

And on the free speech issue, his free speech wasn't impeded upon. Even in spirit, the article got released, they didn't prevent him from releasing the article. They didn't censor it, they punished him for the content, as they felt it breached their own rules. You can argue over whether or not you think the rules are ok, but they are the rules and they were applied.

*=To elaborate on that, I don't think something should need to be taken to its worst possible extreme to be considered not ok. Just because something is relatively less harmful doesn't automatically make it ok, just not as bad as the more harmful, but still bad.

[Video Games]

So, is he sorry because there was consequences to what he said, and he got them, or is he sorry because he didn't mean what he said?

You already know the answer. Don't be silly.

[purebalance]

Let's start a pool, everyone! How many posts until this thread devolves into "but freedom of speech!" complaints about ... a British man who wasn't censored by his government and was merely forced to face the consequences of a poor decision?

I'm going to say ... five.

Freedom of speech doesn't apply to a private entity. You can fire someone over things they said as long as you don't work for the government and even then there are limitations such as releasing classified information etc.

Most of the people who don't understand freedom of speech are the ones who don't normally defend it. They are the ones who are like "AH PUNCH A NAZI" and then turn around and say freedom of speech when they get fired from a job for saying punch a nazi.

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You already know the answer. Don't be silly.

Depends, and we'll never really know. While I'm sure it is the former, it could be the latter and he said it simply to get views/ratings/whatever and made a bad judgement call on how far you can push the envelope. I mean I think plenty of journalists say things they definitely don't believe, but say it simply for the sake of getting people's attention or getting people riled up.

[purebalance]

Close, but it was 7 posts.

I mean while that person is stupid for saying freedom of speech in their post, everything else is accurate. Although apparently you belittle jews now as long as you're not a white male also. I mean look at Linda Sarsour. She CONSTANTLY belittles Jews with hate speech and yet is "such a progressive" and was a part of the women's march and embraces a lot of hate speech figures.

[Video Games]

Freedom of speech doesn't apply to a private entity. You can fire someone over things they said as long as you don't work for the government and even then there are limitations such as releasing classified information etc.

Most of the people who don't understand freedom of speech are the ones who don't normally defend it. They are the ones who are like "AH PUNCH A NAZI" and then turn around and say freedom of speech when they get fired from a job for saying punch a nazi.

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Depends, and we'll never really know. While I'm sure it is the former, it could be the latter and he said it simply to get views/ratings/whatever and made a bad judgement call on how far you can push the envelope. I mean I think plenty of journalists say things they definitely don't believe, but say it simply for the sake of getting people's attention or getting people riled up.

Nobody sincere apologieses the way he did. I can smell bs a mile away.

[Deleted]

At first I was like, that was just a joke. But seeing that he is a self proclaimed holocaust denier, I am certainly more skeptical of it.

[Kuntantee]

Where the fuck is our FoS lovers? Oh wait, it's not Muslims that he shat on, so that's okay.

[purebalance]

Nobody sincere apologieses the way he did. I can smell bs a mile away.

I guess I should reread the original piece where he said what he had. Then again if you can smell bs we both should take a look and see then. Then again he could have not meant what he said and still not be truly sorry for saying it and simply sorry for losing his job which means while not being a bigot he could simply have been a complete douche and after money. There's plenty of possibilities.

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I'm a right wing guy, and 100% defend freedom of speech, this is an example of how it should work, he said what he wanted to say, and he now faces the consequences. He most likely won't lose his job though, people in media never do

Sacked means fired. It was in the first sentence of the article. He also might have a lot of trouble getting rehired after the fact. Getting fired for something like this leaves a taint on you in the media community.

[purebalance]

all he needs to do is ask for a job from an editor who secretly agrees with him

Not really. He's been publicly shown as such. The organization at this point would need to publicly embrace those ideals.

[Deleted]

First, saying the phrase "comparing apples to oranges" is incredibly stupid and you should stop it. They grow from trees, they both have skin, they're both fruit, they both are tasty, their juice is widely drank, etc.

As far as "fuck white men" not being a precursor to physical violence, please take a look at Berkeley, or any pro Trump gatherings. Yeah no. Also people saying anti jew things generally aren't planning on shooting up a synagogue any time soon. Because if saying you didn't like something meant you were going to do it harm, every student should be put in handcuffs for talking about how much they hate school.

As far as free speech goes, I honestly don't care he was canned, I believe businesses should be allowed to be ran however they see fit. If you look at my statement I never said anything to the like.

Side note: Don't get the wrong impression here, I'm not Anti Jewish. I just find it amusing the moment anyone says anything anti jewish though the world loses their minds. (Ben Shapiro 2024)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apples_and_oranges

Just saying