BBC race row erupts as broadcaster accused of dropping Olympic legend 'for being white'

Sir Steve Redgrave

BBC has been accused of dropping an Olympic legend from the show for being a “white bloke”, it has been reported. Former BBC radio presenter Danny Kelly claimed that Olympic legend Sir Steve Redgrave lost his job with the broadcaster over the racism row.

While speaking to GB News, Danny Kelly said the Olympian lost his job “because he’s a 62-year-old white bloke”.

Sir Steve Redgrave is a legendary British rower, widely regarded as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

The sports legend who used to be a regular on the BBC’s Olympic coverage after retiring has reportedly been replaced by Dame Katherine Grainger, now Chair of UK Sport.

Sir Steve Redgrave

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Redgrave said he “wasn’t told” that he had been discontinued, but “it’s sort of evolved”.

He added: “Matt [Sir Matthew Pinsent] is the presenter and Katherine Grainger is the equivalent to what I was doing. They went, ‘Male-female, covered on Olympic medals, why have three?'”

Beyond his Olympic success, Redgrave also secured numerous World Championship titles throughout his career, solidifying his status as one of the greatest rowers of all time.

He retired from competitive rowing after his fifth Olympic gold medal in Sydney, ending a remarkable career spanning over two decades.

Responding to Redgrave’s dismissal from this year’s coverage, Kelly quoted the BBC’s “mission statement”, which reads: “We are a diverse organisation and have much to be proud of.

“But we are also challenging ourselves to ensure that diversity and inclusion is hardwired into everything that the BBC does.”

He continued: “This is an example of the hardwiring. He’s lost his job. He’s being binned off because he’s a 62-year-old white bloke.”

The former radio presenter also accused the BBC of “box ticking” and said Katherine Grainger only replaced Redgrave because she “is a woman”.

Kelly told GB News: “Matthew Pinsent, who was his fellow rower, he still is the main anchor man, as it were. And they have brought in another very, very proud Olympian, a British sporting hero if you like, but she’s a 48-year-old woman.

“And the reason that she’s there is that she’s a woman; it’s really as straightforward as that. I can give you other examples where this hardwiring has actually cost the BBC audience figures.”

Kelly continued: “Just look at Ken Bruce, he was a 72-year-old fella. He had the biggest radio show in the UK. They have replaced him with someone much younger and they’ve lost a million [listeners] and where Ken Bruce has gone, which is Greatest Hits, they have now put millions on.

“Look at Sue Barker. They binned Sue Barker, a British icon, off a Question of Sport just for a diverse line-up and that’s now being cancelled.”

He warned that the BBC “isn’t going to end” the box ticking, and the broadcaster “doesn’t need to run the organisation like a commercial business does”.

BBC claims Steve Redgrave hasn’t worked for the broadcaster since 2017 and wasn’t a part of the BBC Tokyo 2021 coverage

Mr Redgrave took up the Performance Director role with the China team in May 2018 and was in that position for the Tokyo Olympics.

However, the BBC’s lineup for Paris 2024 hasn’t be announced yet and will soon be done in due course.