Carmen Callil BBC is being criticised after a guest on one of its shows described the much-maligned Australian cricket team as "poofters" for having dyed hair. PinkNews.co.uk reports that during the live Newsnight programme, presenter Kirsty Wark interviewed Australian publisher and cricket fan Carmen Callil and comedian Matthew Hardy about their home team's misfortunes in the Ashes. After calling the Australian team "grossly overweight", Ms Callil criticised their "blond prickly" hair. Ms Wark interjected: "Maybe they are entitled to their feminine side when they dye their hair?" Ms Callil responded: "No, it's not a feminine side, it's sort of a poofter side, isn't it?" After laughter, Ms Wark said: "Oh my God, Carmen. You may say that, I would never say that." Oxford University student Owen Alun John has complained to the BBC about the comment and told PinkNews.co.uk: "I was quite taken aback when I heard what Ms Callil said. Hardly the kind of language you expect to hear on TV in 2011, least of all on Newsnight." It comes after almost 100 people complained over a BBC News broadcast which interviewed the Christian fundamentalist and gay execution supporter Stephen Green over Elton John's surrogate baby.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 8th January 2011 - 12:52pm