November13
A BBC radio presenter has been sacked for making alleged racist remarks after she told a taxi firm not to send a driver wearing a turban to pick up her daughter as it would “freak her out”.
Forty-year-old Sam Mason who joined BBC Radio Bristol in September’08 called the taxi company off-air when she was presenting the radio’s afternoon programme.
She allegedly told the cab operator “not to send an Asian driver to pick up her daughter. A guy with a turban on is going to freak her out.”
“I know this sounds really racist, but I’m not being please. An English person would be great, a female would be better,” she further added.
When her request was refused, she is alleged to have said: “You’ve managed it before.”
The taxi operator routinely records messages in case of complaints and later passed a transcript of the conversation on to The Sun, who subsequently contacted the BBC.
Mason was suspended and sacked 24 hours later. She was later informed by station officials on Saturday that she would no longer work for the BBC.
The transcript records how she ordered a taxi to take her 14-year-old from her Clifton house to her grandparents’ home.
A BBC spokesman said: “Although Sam Mason’s remarks were not made on-air, her comments were completely unacceptable and, for that reason, she has been informed that she will no longer be working for the BBC with immediate effect.”
According to The Sun, the transcript of the conversation runs as follows.
Mason: “I know this sounds really racist, but I’m not being . . . please, don’t send anyone like, you know what I mean. An English person would be great, a female would be better.”
Operator: “We would class that as being racist. We can’t penalise the Asian drivers and just send an English one.”
Mason: “You’ve managed it before.”
Operator: “Right, OK. I don’t agree with it personally.”
Mason: “It’s not your 14-year-old girl who’s, you know, is it?”
Operator: “Yes, but that’s racist to say you don’t want an Asian driver.”
Mason: “If it were me I wouldn’t care if it had two heads, but it’s my little girl we are talking about.”
Mason, is then handed to a male taxi operator and tells him that his female colleague has “a bad attitude”.
She adds: “I work at the BBC. I’m far from racist and that uneducated woman has no right to call me one.” She says
of her daughter: “I don’t want her to turn up with a guy with a turban on. It’s going to freak her out. She’s not used to Asians.”
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