BBC's John Humphrys DEFENDS leaked 'jokes' of him 'making fun' of 'gender pay gap'
BBC BROADCASTER John Humphrys has hit back at accusations he was “making fun” of women over unequal pay and claims it was just “silly banter”.
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John Humphrys, 74, was recorded in an off-air conversation in which he allegedly made light of Carrie Gracie, the former BBC China editor who quit the corporation in protest of the “gender pay gap”.
The leaked tape is a recording of a conversation between Mr Humphrys and North America editor Jon Sopel, before Monday's BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
The presenter said: “It was just silly banter between old mates.”
Mr Humphrys asked his colleague how much of his salary he would be prepared to "hand over" to keep Ms Gracie as the BBC's China editor.
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The broadcaster says to Mr Sopel: “Slight change of subject, the first question will be how much of your salary you are prepared to hand over to Carrie Gracie to keep her, and then a few comments about your other colleagues, you know, like our Middle East Editor and the other men who are earning too much…”
Mr Sopel, 58, replied: “I mean, obviously if we are talking about the scope for the greatest redistribution I’ll have to come back and say well yes Mr Humphrys, but…”
Humphrys says: “And I could save you the trouble as I could volunteer that I’ve handed over already more than you f***ing earn but I’m still left with more than anybody else and that seems to me to be entirely just — something like that would do it?”
Mr Sopel replied: “Don’t…”
Mr Humphrys added: "Oh dear God, she's actually suggested you should lose money; you know that don’t you? You’ve read the thing properly have you?”
Mr Humphrys has said comments made in an off-air chat about equal pay were "nothing to do" with the campaign by Carrie Gracie after he was criticised for making light of the situation.
Speaking to The Times, he said: "This was what I thought was an exchange between two old friends who have known each other for 30 years and were taking the Mickey out of each other.
"It was nothing to do with Carrie's campaign."
The conversation was leaked to former BBC journalist Miriam O'Reilly, who won a tribunal against the corporation in 2011 over ageism for being sacked from Countryfile.
She claimed to have heard the recording of the conversation between Mr Humphrys and Mr Sopel.
She tweeted: "...it is base - and beneath what the public would expect to hear from John Humphrys. Winifred Robinson was stood down for tweeting support for Carrie I expect the same will now happen with Mr Humphrys."
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She also described the exchange as "smug and condescending".
She said: “Clearly John Humphrey’s was not happy about his salary reduction in the equal pay scandal or the reasons why. Blokes together, what are they like.”
One BBC source said: “Management are deeply unimpressed.”
A BBC spokeswoman said: "This was an ill-advised off-air conversation which the presenter regrets.
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"The BBC is committed to getting its pay structures right and, as we have said, we are conducting a comprehensive analysis of presenter pay."
Ms Gracie's resignation came as she accused the corporation of a "secretive and illegal pay culture" after it was revealed two-thirds of its stars earning more than £150,000 were male.
In an open letter, she said she had left her post to "speak out publicly on a crisis of trust at the BBC", adding that she simply wanted the corporation to "abide by the law and value men and women equally".
