BBC suspends EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick for utilizing ableist slur | BBC

The EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick has been suspended by the BBC after utilizing an ableist slur on the set of Strictly Come Dancing.

A video emerged of the actor, who performs Jay Brown on the long-running cleaning soap, utilizing the time period to explain the individuals of Blackpool, the city the place the programme was being filmed, in response to the Solar on Sunday.

On Saturday, a spokesperson for the BBC stated: “This language is totally unacceptable and on no account displays the values or requirements we maintain and anticipate on the BBC. We’ve got sturdy processes in place for this.”

Warren Kirwan, media supervisor at incapacity equality charity Scope, stated: “Attitudes and language like this are by no means acceptable.

“It’s not simply ignorant and hurtful to disabled individuals, it has wider penalties. Destructive attitudes maintain disabled individuals again in all areas of life, from getting a job to procuring on the excessive avenue.

“Mr Borthwick must mirror on what he stated, educate himself and do higher. We hope he takes the chance to get to know the truth of disabled individuals’s lives.

Borthwick gained the Strictly 2023 Christmas particular with Nancy Xu. The 30-year-old took half in the newest collection of Strictly, the place he was paired with the skilled dancer Michelle Tsiakkas. They had been eradicated in week 10, ending seventh.

Borthwick, who joined EastEnders in 2006 and is among the longest-serving actors on the present, instructed the Solar on Sunday: “I need to apologise sincerely and wholeheartedly for the phrases I used within the video displaying my response to creating it by Blackpool week on Strictly. I’m deeply sorry for any offence and upset my phrases and actions have precipitated.

“It’s no excuse, however I didn’t absolutely perceive the derogatory time period I used and its that means. That’s on me utterly. Now I’m conscious, I’m deeply embarrassed to have used the time period and directed it in the way in which I did. It was incorrect.

“After I made the video, I used to be excited and caught up within the second. Once more, that’s no excuse. However my regrettable actions are usually not a real reflection of my views, or who I’m.

“I loved each minute of my time within the Blackpool Tower Ballroom and the city itself. The individuals of Blackpool have all the time been superb with the Strictly crew, dancers and forged members. I do know they are going to be once more for this yr’s present and people in years to return. I’m really sorry.”

Wynne Evans, who additionally competed in final yr’s version of Strictly, stated final week he had been dropped by the BBC, after apologising for utilizing “inappropriate language” in the course of the launch of the Strictly Come Dancing tour.

The Welsh opera singer, 53, will now not be a BBC Radio Wales presenter, he introduced final week.

Earlier this yr, he apologised for language that he referred to as “inappropriate and unacceptable” after the Mail on Sunday reported that he was heard making a comment to a lady in a video filmed in the course of the Strictly launch occasion.

It’s understood Evans was given a warning over the comment by tour producers.

In January, he stated: “I’ve agreed with the BBC that I’ll take a while out from my radio present and the Strictly Stay tour, in addition to my different public commitments, to prioritise my wellbeing. I’m deeply sorry for the ache my inappropriate actions have precipitated, and plan to take this time for self-reflection.”