How Terribly Sad For Alistair Stewart After Serving Itn As A Newsreader

[Bobbisox1]

That he’s been forced to step down because of a misjudgement when he called someone and ‘angry ape’ on Twitter
The recipient said he was racist and so ends an unblemished 30 odd years as a newsreader

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51300799

[TonyV]

It was a Shakespeare quote that has just been leapt on by the pc brigade. Just watched a stupid debate on ITV news.

[barry1010]

Bobbisox, going by his avatar. Yes, he could have been a person of any race or nationality pretending to be black but why would anyone assume that he was using a fake avatar? Why take that risk? Stewart is well aware of current thinking, what makes the news and he has probably reported on footballers, monkey gestures and bananas. He cannot plead ignorance. He certainly should not have been making personal remarks when using 'itn' as part of his Twitter identity.

[ToraToraTora]

chalk up another win for the loonies. World's going bonkers.

[margarettom]

I simply don't understand how anyone with any intelligence and, with age and experience on their side, feels a need to go on something as banal as Twitter knowing what a mine field it is. Zero sympathy I'm afraid.

[Bobbisox1]

He hasn’t pleaded anything Barry, he’s stepped down saying he made a error of misjudgement

[Bobbisox1]

Margrettom, I totally agree , it’s a lunatic asylum where spats and dirty linen get hung out to dry

[retrocop]

The 'offending' quote !
‘“But man, proud man, Dress’d in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d – His glassy essence – like an angry ape”,’ the tweet read.

[emmie]

so he goes, what a waste.. hopefully someone will give him another job in the media.

[barry1010]

Bobbisox, he has admitted to 'errors of judgement'. I meant he could not plead ignorance about current thinking, I didn't say he had.

[naomi24]

"Current thinking" begs the question, "Whose current thinking?", and why should their "current thinking" be any more valid than anyone else's "current thinking"?

[Lie-in King]

A sad & pointless end to the career of a well-regarded broadcaster.

[Ken4155]

Aside from commercial use, isn't Twitter all about gleaning as many followers as possible in an attempt to boost one's ego?

[Old_Geezer]

A normal person doesn't see any risk because there should be none because any issue is with the offended and that should not force the innocent to go around 'stepping on eggshells' all their life trying to spot pitfalls in communications etc.. It's a very dodgy society that insists they should. Folk who play the race card inappropriately are the ones who should be let go lest they bring further shame on their employer.

[Togo]

The PC brigade will eventually eat themselves, we just have to disengage from them and sit back and watch.

[retrocop]

What next? The woke snowflakes demanding Shakespeare be banned?
He must of been a racist what with Othello The Moor of Venice and all that

[Ken4155]

^
Normal people don't go around quoting Shakespeare at every given opportunity. Only those who like to believe that, by doing so, they are intellectually above the person they are speaking to.

[Old_Geezer]

Only those who see it as an appropriate way to get a point across.

[teacake44]

Its his bosses that should be stepping down if they think he's done any wrong.

[AuntPollyGrey]

My pedantic penneth of the day: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing is not a Shakespearean quote, its from a poem by Alexander Pope:
"A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring; There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.”

[Tilly2]

This is the quote.

Merciful heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarlèd oak
Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man,
Dress'd in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd—
His glassy essence—like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

Measure For Measure Act 2, scene 2, 114–123