BBC ‘apologises’ to ex-presenter for ‘homophobic abuse’
The BBC has allegedly issued a “formal, full and unconditional apology” to a former radio presenter over homophobic abuse he received (Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)
The BBC has allegedly issued a "formal, full and unconditional apology" to a former radio presenter over homophobic abuse he received (Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)
The BBC has allegedly issued a “formal, full and unconditional apology” to a former radio presenter for “repeated incidents of homophobic and discriminatory abuse” which he received while working at the corporation.
Jack Murley, who worked as a presenter for BBC Radio Cornwall for five years, was sacked in 2024 for breaching the BBC’s editorial and social media policies with posts that criticised cuts to local radio and which the broadcaster said failed to be impartial.
Murley took the BBC to employment tribunal in which he alleged he was discriminated against for being a gay man as well as a union representative for the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
However, in February of this year, employment judge Alastair Smail ruled Murley was not discriminated against and in a subsequent hearing in October judged the BBC’s dismissal had been “reasonable”.
A separate internal investigation was carried out by the BBC and allegedly found there had been several instances of Murley experiencing homophobic abuse at the hands of BBC employees and there were “managerial failings” in handling this.
In an update published on social media, Murley said on Thursday (18 December) that he met “in-person” with senior members of the BBC’s management to “receive a formal, full and unconditional apology for repeated incidents of homophobic and discriminatory abuse that I was subjected to while working at the Corporation”.
“The abuse occurred over a number of years, from individuals inside and outside the BBC, and was thoroughly documented in a high-level whistleblowing report compiled by the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team,” Murley captioned a lengthy post on Instagram detailing his experiences.
“I have known about that report for some time, along with how serious its conclusions are.
“And today, the BBC has confirmed to me that it acknowledges and accepts – without reservation – every single one of that report’s conclusions, and the repeated incidents of homophobic and discriminatory abuse that the Corporation’s own investigators found.”
Murley added: “I’ve written more above – and, as I’m sure you can imagine, it wasn’t easy for me to relive these experiences.
“But for two years, I’ve had my credibility questioned in the most public way possible when I alleged that I was subjected to repeated incidents of homophobic, discriminatory and inappropriate behaviour while working for the BBC.
“Today, the BBC has admitted those incidents occurred – and apologised unconditionally for them. I wasn’t lying. It did happen. I was telling the truth. And today, the BBC has accepted that I was telling the truth as well.”
Murley concluded it will take him “some time to process this” but added: “Your support – today, over the past two years, always – has meant everything.
“So, thank you.”
A spokesperson for the BBC said on the matter: “We welcomed the tribunal judgement, which was widely reported on in October, and won’t be commenting further.”
