A British TV news host has been suspended by executives at a conservative news network following backlash over a segment in which the presenter took a knee to demonstrate solidarity with Black soccer players on England’s national team after they were the targets of racist attacks.
GB News, a broadcast television network headquartered in London, said this week that Guto Harri would be taken off the air following his demonstration during a Tuesday show, calling the move “an unacceptable breach of our standards,” according to The Guardian.
The gesture, which has been increasingly used in recent years by NFL players in the U.S. to speak out against racial injustice, prompted criticism from viewers of the show, with many taking part in a social media campaign to get the network to punish Harri.
According to The Guardian, some broadcasts on the news channel had zero viewers this week as audience members boycotted the network.
The Guardian reported that GB News’s director of programming, John McAndrew, had subsequently quit the station. Sources said that the executive, who has had a long career in the news industry including at Sky News and Euronews, was facing pressure to gear more coverage to culture war topics, with less focus on local reporting and open commentary.
The channel has labeled itself as an opponent of “cancel culture,” based on principles of free and open debate, according to The Guardian.
In response to Harri’s removal, friends of his said in a statement, “GB News is becoming an absurd parody of what it proclaimed to be – not defending free speech and combatting cancel culture but replicating it on the far right. Nasty.”
The statement went on to say, “It’s ridiculous to say he’s breached editorial standards and almost certainly defamatory.”
“In reality it wasn’t a breach of editorial code but ‘sacked for offending the lynch mob,’ ” they added.
It was not immediately clear from GB News’s announcement which component of the channel’s editorial standards Harri had breached by taking a knee.
The company’s editorial charter as listed on its website states that the channel stands for “independence of our journalism,” the “right of every individual to form and share their views” and “respect for opinions and those expressing them.”
Harri is just one of many who have condemned this week’s racist attacks against English soccer players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who each missed penalty kicks during the final shootout with Italy in Sunday’s Euro 2020 championship match.
In response to the hate levied against the three players, who are Black, the national team tweeted, “We’re disgusted that some of our squad — who have given everything for the shirt this summer — have been subjected to discriminatory abuse online after tonight’s game.”
“We stand with our players,” the team added.
Prince William, who is the head of the England Football Association, also condemned the online attacks, saying he was “sickened” by the “abhorrent” abuse.