Wednesday, 4 February 2009

• Prev
• Next

Carol Thatcher dropped from The One Show for 'golliwog' remark

I’m A Celebrity winner did not intend to be racist

Carol Thatcher is the daughter of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

Carol Thatcher will no longer work on The One Show after she referred to a tennis player as a ‘golliwog’.

The 2005 I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! winner made the remark during a backstage chat with presenter Adrian Chiles, 41.

But Carol's rep says it was 'meant as a joke' and she 'never intended any racist comment'.

‘She made a light aside about this tennis player and his similarity to the golliwog on the jam pot when she was growing up,' he tells The Times.

‘There's no way, obviously, that she would condone any racist comment - we would refute that entirely. It would not be in her nature to do anything like that.

'Carol is mortified that anyone should take offence at a silly joke. She has summarily apologised.’

BBC arts correspondent David Sillito said: 'People were upset by what she said in the green room and they complained.

‘We understand she has not made the unconditional apology that they sought, and as a consequence of that, her position on The One Show is no longer tenable.

Carol will not be banned from the BBC completely.