I agree wholeheartedly. I deplore what he said but please don't put him in the same league as Jonathan Ross or Russell Brand. They went out on air and made slanderous remarks about Andrew Sach's grand-daughter. Anton made his remark in private. It is quite a different thing.

Anton made his remark in private. It is quite a different thing.[/quote]

But it wasn't strictly in private. It was on BBC propety in the company of others, and whilst he was working for the BBC, whilst we in effect are paying his salary.

At home, a dinner party, out shopping is one thing, this wasnt private.

I actually think he has ruined his career. I like him and agree it was just stupid but the BBC cannot condone or promote people who use racist langauge, apology or not, its just not acceptable when you are in the public eye. I think this will be his last series and we wont see much of him afterwards.

Its such a shame, he's great, but an idiot.

I thought he made a very gracious apology on ITT on Friday. He was trying to be humourous and got it badly wrong and he seems to recognise that.
Does the fact that the word "p@k!*" is in his vocabulary show that he's a racist ? Of course not . It does indicate that he's a 40 something who grew up in an environment where that word was widely used and it probably indicates he's never felt strongly enough about not using that word to bother to program it out of his vocabulary.
However, it's just a word, still widely used in some sections of society and indeed used "ironically" by some Pakistanis in an attempt to defuse the racially abusive power of the word.
We can't have a paranoid society where the uttering of a single word condemns you as a racist : it's all about the context in which the word was used - in this case a crass attempt at humour - his apology must be accepted.

Is it OK if we have a generally respectful society where it is not OK to think that appellations with connotations of bigotry, hate and idiocy are ever, EVER funny?

I agree that one slip doesn't make him a racist, but I think that even thinking for a second that it's OK to use that word makes him an idiot who's got no place presenting a LIVE show.

And why is Gethin Jones not on that list of potential 'new Brucies'? He's gorgeous, has presenting pedigree, experience of live TV and experience of being on SCD, which was a good enough reason for the Beeb to hire Alesha (who has virtually no TV presenting experience IIRC).

I suspect his work on The One Show is grooming for a bigger live gig. The only problem with hiring Gethin is I suspect he would show Tess up badly

Nearly all the things that that made us love Alesha as a contestant are now suppressed by her ridiculous judging role. The role of judge is inherently suited to older veteran knowledgeable has-beens none of whch describes the lovely Ms Dixon . If they wanted eye candy they could as you suggested have upgraded poor old Tess.
Gethin, pleasing on the eye as he may be, is not the sharpest knife and on his Five Live radio show came over as rather self satisfied : a big grin can only get you so far on radio.
Bruce is irreplaceable because of his un-selfconscious enthusiasm, experience and lifelong love of dancing. When he goes the show is in big trouble . Norton, Winton, O'Grady woud be disastrous : you can't have the host mocking the genre.

But it wasn't strictly in private. It was on BBC propety in the company of others, and whilst he was working for the BBC, whilst we in effect are paying his salary.

At home, a dinner party, out shopping is one thing, this wasnt private.

I actually think he has ruined his career. I like him and agree it was just stupid but the BBC cannot condone or promote people who use racist langauge, apology or not, its just not acceptable when you are in the public eye. I think this will be his last series and we wont see much of him afterwards.

Its such a shame, he's great, but an idiot.[/quote]

I do agree with you that any racist remark cannot be condoned but Anton has behaved like an idiot - probably thinking he was being "funny". Whilst Ross and Brand were "on air" to the general public making nasty remarks about an 18 year old girl -- totally different kettle of fish. At the end of the day I wouldn't sue Anton but if I had been a member of the Sachs family - I would have taken Brand and Ross to court and demanded damages,

I do agree with you that any racist remark cannot be condoned but Anton has behaved like an idiot - probably thinking he was being "funny". Whilst Ross and Brand were "on air" to the general public making nasty remarks about an 18 year old girl -- totally different kettle of fish. At the end of the day I wouldn't sue Anton but if I had been a member of the Sachs family - I would have taken Brand and Ross to court and demanded damages,[/quote]

They weren't just making nasty remarks to an eighteen year old girl they were publicly humiliating her grandfather and they had no right to do so. He was an innocent victim of thei nastiness.

Just goes to show how we all have our own opinions, in mine, what Brand and Ross did was far worse than what Anton said imo.

Brand and Ross were deliberately being plain nasty and targeted a defenceless person. Two against one is also pretty cowardly.

I reckon Harry Hill gave it free publicity.

But it appears that he's gone right off it now that Dale isn't there and Anton is presenting it instead.

one of antons biggest fans...

There's already a 69 page thread about this, do we really need another one?

Why don't they just shut up about it?

Now Len Goodman is sticking his beak in too.

It's they themselves who are keeping it going by doing the PR rounds.
Can't they see this?

You can't just tell the public to stop talking about something. How patronising and condescending of them.
The public will stop talking about it when they're good and ready, not when the show itself tells them to stop.

Every time they wheel out their celebrities to give the show good PR and tell people what they should think, it's they themselves who are blowing it all out of proportion by going on about it in the media and fanning the flames much longer than need be.
They're the media, they're the ones who blow something out of proportion.
The public don't appreciate being told what and how to think and will stop talking about something when they feel like it and it naturally dies down by itself.

I find it quite insulting for these celebrities coming out in the media and preaching to the public about how and what they should think and when to stop talking about something.
Stop doing the PR rounds in the media by having Strictly celebs acting as PR spokespeople releasing new statements every few days and things will die down naturally and of their own accord.

We'll talk again in three years then!


You mean last week's furore? And Anton, unlike Bruce knows when to shut up (and I like Bruce remember!).



Who said Gethin wasn't? I'd be fine with Gethin, but I would prefer Anton.

Unfortunately this thread has already gone off topic by the introduction of the same arguments on the main discussion thread covering the original issue. The OP was asking about Anton's future, not for more opinions (or the same ones) about the rights or wrongs of what Anton did.

He was a complete arse to say it, but I don't think it'll damage his career in the long run. I've always thought the BBC were grooming him to take over from Brucie when he hangs up his dancing shoes, and I think that'll still happen, providing Brucie does at least 1 more series after this one. By that time it'll be mostly forgotten.

I really don't want Norton or Barrowman to host Strictly, they're on enough already. Wogan would be good...

I have never been able to understand why Anton is mooted as a possible Brucie replacement - SCD is a live show which demands a high level of presenting experience which Anton doesn't have and a couple of series of Hole in the Wall won't give him it either.

If you view his gaffes "charitably" then at the very least Lailagate has demonstrated that Anton doesn't have the nouse to present a live show on telly.

Couldn't agree more with this! I always thought that Anton's name was always touted about to take over from Bruce originally came from fans anyway, and was based purely on a resemblance in the chin area and a love of cheese (comedy style not dairy). If anything, he'd need to do a lot more than Hole in the Wall to credit a presenter slot on a live show.

But please; BBC if you are reading this I beg you, NOT John Barrowman, please!

She doesn't seem so much to have stepped into the row as to have expressed justifiable bafflement as to why it has caused reporters and photographers to camp out on her doorstep.

They weren't just making nasty remarks to an eighteen year old girl they were publicly humiliating her grandfather and they had no right to do so. He was an innocent victim of thei nastiness.

Just goes to show how we all have our own opinions, in mine, what Brand and Ross did was far worse than what Anton said imo.

Brand and Ross were deliberately being plain nasty and targeted a defenceless person. Two against one is also pretty cowardly.[/quote]

Absolutely - I forgot to put that in. I think the Anton debacle has been blown out of all proportion. He was an idiot but I don't think he intended it as a racist slur - whereas Ross and Brand are in a completely different league.

I don't know what is happening to my posts as they are getting jumbled with OPs. Perhaps I am not doing something right - or perhaps the site is encountering problems.

"Carol Thatcher was axed from her role on BBC1's The One Show after she used an offensive term during a chat in the programme's green room.

The corporation drew a distinction between the two incidents, saying that Du Beke offered an unreserved apology, whereas Thatcher apologised but continued to maintain her comment was a joke."

The BBC are clearly treating him differently and protecting him, they must have long term plans for him and see him as a good investment. Whereas Carol Thatcher was an easy way for them to look righteous.

Yup, with that I agree. You really need as perfect control over your mouth:brain function as possible, and Anton doesn't have that. That doesn't make him a bad person, I haven't got that perfection either, I do a lot of speaking in public, and script all my asides and casual comments to avoid foot in mouth disease; it does mean that he's definitely not suited to that kind of job.

BTW - I read in these forums that 'it has been mooted' that Anton was being t-ed up to replace Bruce - where? Just curious.

and yes, Gethin would work for me.

If Laila & Anton continue to dance so well, the whole race saga will slowly die down and people will begin to respect them for their dancing. Also I hope this isn't Anton's last Strictly...if he goes Erin probably will too, and imo Strictly wouldn't be the same without these 2.

I hope he'll still find work- I used to really like him, and no one deserves to be shunned for the rest of their life because of one stupid mistake.
The one good thing to come out of this is that it has taken the heat off Alesha and allowed her to settle in to Strictly without pathetic people critisising her every move.

Strange how 500 people complained to the BBC about something they didn't even hear! How can you be offended by something you didn'here! This is complete madness. Move on please.

Well, I didn't complain - and I don't want him sacked. He used an inappropriate term, admitted it, apologized - end of story. But if (FOR EXAMPLE) he'd shouted aggressively at her that she was a f***ing n***er who couldn't dance because of her race - and admitted it - I certainly would have. So I think I could find something offensive if I weren't there.

Sigh.

The 'madness' and chilling factor in this whole sorry mess is people saying it was just a joke and it doesn't matter.

Anton doesn't think that, he's apologised unreservedly.

People will draw a line when people STOP trivialising what he said.