BBC Apologises To Sacked Sports Presenter Who Was Told To Sound ‘Less Gay’

The BBC is always being accused of being too “woke”, so it’s kind of ironic that they’ve now had to apologise to a former presenter after asking him to sound ‘less gay’.

Jack Murley, who worked with BBC Radio Cornwall from 2019 until 2024, claims he was called names like “fairy boy” by colleagues and was even told to sound “less gay” when on air.

Murley was eventually sacked by the BBC in 2024 for breaching the editorial guidelines following posts he made about proposed changes to the BBC.

An employment tribunal found his sacking was ‘reasonable’ and not the result of anti-gay discrimination, but an internal investigation found the BBC failed to act on the abuse Murley received.

According to the report, one colleague who found his car blocked by Murley’s car in the office car park, allegedly said to him: “Fairy boy, you need to move your car”.

The same colleague told a joke that included the word ‘p**f’, and a different colleague said during a conversation about giving blood: “I can understand why you were banned.. Statistically, your lot are a lot more likely to die of Aids, that’s just a numerical fact.”

Murley claimed he was also receiving homophobic abuse in emails, texts, and phone calls from listeners, and was advised to just try and sound “less gay” when on air.

The BBC’s chief operating officer, Jason Horton, has now apologised on behalf of the organisation.

Murley says: “At a time when I was producing an award-winning LGBTQ+ show for the BBC, I was being subjected to the kind of homophobic and bigoted behaviours from BBC staff members that would have been unacceptable decades ago – let alone in a modern workplace.”

“I am glad that the BBC has finally admitted that people in positions of power created and sustained an environment in which my abuse was explicitly and implicitly tolerated by those who should have been expected to stop it.”

Well, I suppose it was BBC Cornwall, so maybe it’s not too surprising that this went down after all. I’m sure Murley will be disappointed that the tribunal ruled that he wasn’t sacked for being gay, but at least he received an apology for the way he was treated during his time with the BBC. Does that bring him his job back? No, but at least it’s something.

To read up on the Naga Munchetty BBC bullying probe, click HERE.