BBC News Clive Myrie has found himself in hot water. It seems to have echoes of another Linekergate.
Myrie was taken off his role on BBC’s News at Ten last Friday over fears of an anti-Tory bias.
It comes after he told some scripted jokes on an episode of Have I Got News for You.
Clive was presenting the edgy politics show featuring team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton.
Another Linekergate
Just before he went on the news he was taken off by Charlotte Moore, the content chief, became worried about impartiality accusations arising from his role in the current affairs comedy show.
Jane Hill was parachuted in as a replacement on the bulletin after the satirical show was screened at 9pm.
During the show’s opener, footage was shown of the former PM running with his Jack Russell cross, Dilyn. Doing a mock voiceover, Myrie quipped: “After being found by the House of Commons committee to have lied repeatedly, Boris Johnson takes the opportunity to deny that he’s ever been jogging or has a dog.”
At one point during the broadcast, he also reassured Helen Lewis, a guest journalist on the panel, that there would be a discussion about Johnson’s “mad” honours list.
Hislop told the audience: “You’ll remember you were here for the end of Clive Myrie’s career.” Merton added: “Or the beginning of a new rise.”
The BBC declined to comment when approached.
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Ukraine
Myrie was given a lot of praise for his reporting from Kyiv, as the war with Russia escalated.
He wrote in the Guardian: “I’ve reported on conflicts for 20 years, and I’m not afraid to be blunt about Russia’s disgusting war of aggression on Ukraine.’
What he saw while reporting has deeply affected him, he wrote: “Has this war affected my sense of what I do as a journalist and broadcaster? I’m not afraid to be blunt about it. I’m not going to be “well, on the one hand this, on the other hand this” when describing what fundamentally happened. The bottom line is that Putin started an illegal war. He attacked a neighbour, unprovoked. It’s an utterly disgusting war of aggression.
“I’m not going to try to balance that act of aggression with talk of how he’s worried about Nato expansion. I’m too old for that shit. Would I have felt I could say this 10, 15, 20 years ago? Maybe not. But I’m getting on, and sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.”
Related: Richard Madeley tried to own Gary Lineker but scored massive own goal – reactions
