Reporting coming out of the UK this morning reveals that a local Channel 4 news anchor has been removed from the air after they were caught on referring to a British politician as a “C—t.”
PopCulture reports that Channel 4 news anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been suspended from the air for a week, following an audio recording that captured him referring to Tory MP Steve Baker as the derogatory C-word. “Tory” is slang for the Conservative party in the UK, and an MP is a member of parliament, on par with a member of Congress in the United States. The Channel 4 news network confirmed anchor Guru-Murthy’s suspension from news presentation duties as a result of his use of the derogatory term. The report goes on to note that the anchor won’t return to the air until after November 4th, due to an additional, previously-planned week of leave that was unrelated to the name-calling incident.
In a statement regarding the incident that was shared via a press release, as well as to their official Twitter account, Head of News and Current Affairs and Specialist Factual at Channel 4, Louisa Compton, said:
Channel 4 has a strict code of conduct for all its employees, including its programming teams and on-air presenters, and takes any breaches seriously. Following an off-air incident Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been taken off air for a week.”
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The audio of Guru-Murthy’s profanity spread across Twitter:
Did the presenter just call Steve Baker a cunt after the interview?! I don’t think they expected that to be heard on the live feed. 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/sfEHeo1GHa
— Mark 🌹 (@TheCentreLefty) October 19, 2022
The news anchor had reportedly been broadcasting from Downing Street, where he interviewed Baker and they discussed Liz Truss’s government. PopCulture reports, “the chaos that erupted at a crucial Commons vote on the future of fracking in UK, during which more than 40 Conservative MPs decided not to back Truss’s government.”
After the interview was over, as Baker was walking away from the anchor, Guru-Murthy can be heard saying, “it wasn’t a stupid question, Steve, you know it. I’m very happy to go up against you on Truss any day,” going on to later add, “what a c—t.” The verbal incident was not broadcast live, but was instead captured on a live stream.
Guru-Murthy did issue an apology in the aftermath of the incident, taking to Twitter where he wrote, “after a robust interview with Steve Baker MP I used a very offensive word in an unguarded moment off air. While it was not broadcast that word in any context is beneath the standards I set myself and I apologise unreservedly. I have reached out to Steve Baker to say sorry.”
The anchor has not commented on his subsequent suspension.
Featured image via screen capture
