BBC apologises after radio presenter called ‘fairy boy’ and told to sound ‘less gay’

The BBC has issued an official apology to a radio host who experienced homophobic abuse while working at the corporation.

Radio presenter Jack Murley alleged that during his time at the BBC, where he worked as a presenter for BBC Radio Cornwall for five years, staff members used the homophobic slurs “poof” and “fairy boy” in his presence; he was told by another that gay people are “a lot more likely to die of AIDS”

Murley said he was also subject to homophobic abuse from listeners in the form of emails, texts, and phone calls, including one incident where Bible verses and homophobic remarks were sent to him in an envelope.

The 37-year-old presenter raised this abuse with a manager who told him it was not his job to deal with the abuse and instructed him to sound “less gay” on air.

Murley said in a social media statement issued in December 2025 – following the outcome of an employment tribunal – that he met “in-person” with senior members of the BBC’s management to “receive a formal, full and unconditional apology” for “homophobic and discriminatory abuse” he experienced.

When asked about this, however, the BBC did not acknowledge the alleged in-person meeting and a spokesperson simply said the broadcaster “welcomed the tribunal judgement” and “won’t be commenting further”.

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Murley was sacked in 2024 after he shared social media posts that criticised cuts to local radio. The BBC said the posts breached its editorial and social media policies, whilst also failing 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).

Employment judge Alastair Smail ruled, however, that Murley’s sacking was not a result of discrimination over his sexuality and in a subsequent decision also judged the BBC’s dismissal had been “reasonable”.

Despite this, a separate internal investigation at the BBC allegedly found several instances of Murley experiencing homophobic treatment at the hands of BBC employees and there were “managerial failings” in handling this.

The BBC has now acknowledged its apology to Murley, in a news story published on the broadcasters own website.

“We have worked hard to change the culture for the better”

In a letter addressed to Murley, Jason Horton – the BBC’s chief operating officer across Nations – apologised for “the behaviours and comments” he was subjected to at the corporation.

“We have worked hard to change the culture for the better across management and the wider team,” Horton said, noting work had been undertaken to implement recommendations for change set out by the internal review.

In response, Murley said he was “grateful” to former colleagues at the BBC who provided witness evidence on his behalf.

“At a time when I was producing an award-winning LGBTQ+ show for the BBC, I was being subjected to the kind of homophobic and bigoted behaviours from BBC staff members that would have been unacceptable decades ago – let alone in a modern workplace,” he explained.

Murley went on to say: “I am glad that the BBC has finally admitted that people in positions of power created and sustained an environment in which my abuse was explicitly and implicitly tolerated by those who should have been expected to stop it.”

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In a post on social media, Murley said: “I can’t begin to tell you how much it has taken to reach this stage, and no victim of abuse should ever have to work this hard to have what they went through acknowledged.”

He went on to stay this outcome was down to the collective effort of himself, the NUJ, his current and former MPs – Ben Maguire and Scott Mann respectively, and “numerous members of my legal team and a whole host of others to move the BBC from a position where it flatly denied that I was the victim of abuse to one where it has had to formally apologise for the fact that I spent years being subjected to homophobic, inappropriate and discriminatory behaviour”.

He added: “I was telling the truth all along.”

In a statement, a BBC spokesperson said: “While we don’t comment on individual cases, we take any reports of our workplace values not being upheld extremely seriously.

“If we receive information or allegations to suggest this is not the case we have robust processes in place to investigate. The BBC is an inclusive organisation and discrimination of any kind is not tolerated.”