She was sacked for not saying sorry, despite repeated calls to do so. Had she then she would have stayed.

This however will probably do it for him and will most likely be his last year.

This shows that the UK is still stuck in the 1970's.
And the next election will prove it I'm sure.
Now where did I put that DVD of Love Thy Neighbour?

Where's my whip?! I'll sort him out, the monster!!!

Yes she did. She apologised to the producers and the Chief Exec of the BBC but apparently that wasn't good enough.

Regards apologising the BBC make up the rules as they go along. She was clearly made an example of. It totally depends on who you are with the BBC, what programmes you are on, and how dispensible you are at the time. The BBC clearly has loftier ambitions for Tony, and will try to avoid losing him at all costs. My guess is his job will be safe unless he does it again, in which case his job surely will become untenable.

As the BBC support Labour Carol was prob sacked because of who her Mother is if Anton promises to give Labour his support at the next election he will get to stay.

Another fuss about nothing. Loads of people use the word every day. A lot of people use it to describe their corner shops.

Actually, according to a story that I've been twittered in on tonight it was actually BOTH of them that used the word. She said it first when she came out of the tan and he agreed with her. The BBC wanted to issue a statement from both of then confirming this but Laila backed out at the last minute. Apparently she was concerned that - as an Indian - she would be thought of even more badly than Anton and, of course, her "husband" is an extremely wealthy Paskistani businessman and they have a daughter together though the relationship is said to be under strain and he hasn't seen the daughter for six months. I'd be interested to see what Laila's management have to say about this and if the NOTW is going to run further with it as we are obviously not being given the truth. NOTW refers to Brendan as having heard Anton but he denies this, as does Erin who was also present at the time of the alleged incident.

It is also interesting to see that Chris Marques has put his facebook status as "I wish people didn't believe all they read in the notw..."

Hmm...

I have to agree with this. I heard the Ross/Brand incident and it shocked me more than anything else I have ever heard on the BBC. Brand resigned but Ross is still there.



So 24 hours after the story breaks and people have been baying for blood, it appears that the NOTW might have struck again with half truths. I'll bet the person who sold the story to the NOTW is laughing all the way to the bank.

They are dicussing the issueonradio 5 live again now.

People are calling for Anton to be sacked.

I think it should be up to Laila as she is the one who has suffered or will suffer if he has to leave.

While I accept that Anton should not be sacked for his plainly RACIST comment, as he has apologised. I am troubled by the it's-political-correctness-gone-mad crowd on here. I am 36 years old and still can still remember the BBC screening the Black and White minstrel show as mainstream entertainment. Even Lenny Henry when he first started out was making racist jokes about his own colour just to get on TV. And who can forget the likes of Jim Davidson and Bernard Manning during their TV hedyday and they were MAINSTREAM entertainers. If PC (if such a thing exists) has achieved anything, it's that racists, sexists, homophobes, have no hiding place for their views. Ron Atkinson was stupid enough to abuse a black player in front of millions on TV and still saw nothing wrong with it. Carol Thatcher expressed her racism in private but gave no thought that those she was expressing it to may have been offended. Once shopped she refused to apologise (except in a back handed way). It is 2009 and I for one am glad we no longer live in a world of CASUAL racism at the very least, even though very real discrimination still exists.

Yes and thankfully those days are gone.
If most folk said what Anton did at work they would be fired.
Why is it different at the BBC ?

Laila would have to leave the show if he was sacked so she will suffer twice.

The Daily Heil's coverage won't be aimed at getting a 'racist' sacked. It will contrast the BBC not sacking Anton (yet) with it taking Carol Thatcher off The One Show. This is, as others have said, a totally inaccurate comparison, but the Heil has never let the facts get in the way of its mission to bash the BBC.

Its 'campaign' won't be to have Anton sacked. It will be against the 'evil BBC bosses with their PC agenda ...' :yawn:

BruciesToup, sorry, but you are mistaken. Carol Thatcher refused to apologise unconditionally - that's why she was taken off The One Show.

arlene's boy, although Laila has had success in India, her parents are Moroccan.

And yes, Buddy, of course the 'mole' will be laughing all their way to the bank. Not as loudly as Rupert Murdoch will be, however ...

How accident-prone SCD7 is.

If the Beeb eject Tony Beak now they will admit to all the world that Strictly is not a happy family. If they do nothing they will be condoning it. After his "All fat people should be shot" declaration the Beeb turned a deaf ear and offered him even more work.

Tony Beak no doubt read the signal and carried on in the same vein. Why shouldn't he?

It will be quite interesting if what someone upthread posted is true, and it was infact Laila that said the P word.

Anton has been criticised, but when a person of ethnic origin such as Laila said it I bet it will be a non issue. Its a bit weird if she did say it, because she was married to a Pakistani and to be honest she looks quite Pakistani anyway. If she actually used the word in that context then I think it is quite nasty and stupid of her, because she's obviously coming from an Indian standpoint and using the term in a derogative manner.

This whole thing confuses me though. If she sprayed tan on, then how could she or Anton think that MAKES her look Pakistani? Pakistani's are lighter skinned than Indians so the tan wouldn't make her look more Pakistani.

No she wouldnt have to leave at all they could just pair her with Matthew Cutler, I agree that it would be a hard few days but it would settle down. As it stands if I vote for Lailla now I vote for Anton too.

This. Sigh.

duplicate removed

At the end of the day it should be her decision as she is the one that has been offended

If this is accurate then I think Laila should come out and say, Anton's obviously getting a lot of stick for this and there are people now wanting him sacked. He is still a muppet for saying it but it's Anton and he can't keep his gob shut, I don't think he means any harm. If indeed they both said it, it's unfair for Anton to get all the stick.

How strange ??........why would Anton apologise if she had said it first and he was just going along with it ?? and why would Laila have left the set if the above is true ??

If the above is the true version of events then someone needs to come out and say so before Anton gets truly hung out to dry.

I'm listening it to R5 now and the presenter is struggling to make sure that the callers know the actual facts.


At least you have acknowledged that there is now some doubt about whether or not the NOWT article contained the full facts of what actually happened.

I think another poster sosomode suggested a reason why Laila might not want her use of the word at post #272.

I think there is more to this story than meets the eye and it has occurred to me that maybe Anton is considering legal action against the NOTW.

I don't really like that he said it but, if it's true that Laila said it first then he obviously felt it was ok to say it as well. This also adds to one of the original questions "why now"? Interesting that this has all blown up the week before X Factor goes live.

You raise a good point.