From the Independent’s Guy Adams.
When Edith Bowman was given an afternoon show on Radio 1, the station hoped she would provide a counterbalance to controversial “shock-jock” presenters such as Chris Moyles and Sara Cox.
But the plan looked to have backfired spectacularly yesterday after Bowman was forced to issue a formal apology for repeating a racist expression that referred to Japanese people as “nasty Nips”.
Discussing newspaper articles about modern slang, Bowman read out an e-mail from a listener saying: “When the weather is a little cold, we say that it’s a bit Pearl Harbor, meaning that there’s a nasty Nip in the air.”
Radio 1’s PR department moved into rapid rebuttal mode, with its press office issuing a statement saying that it regretted the incident.
“Edith was reading out a number of slang terms sent in by listeners, and read this particular term out in error,” read the statement. “No offence was intended, and Edith apologised on air for any that may have been caused.”
Bowman, 31, who is said to earn around £175,000 a year, is seen as one of the BBC’s rising stars.
There is (hopefully) no truth to the rumor this gentleman is already in line to replace Bowman.