Star BBC presenter Graham Norton has said that cancel culture makes it “hard to find Right-wing guests” to come on his BBC talk show, and even if you find one, “the audience probably don’t want to see them”. The presenter, who has hosted his popular late-night chat show since 2007, made the comments in an interview with the Sunday Times. The Telegraph has more.
The 59-year-old Irish presenter said that talking to people we disagree with – or even those who have been “cancelled” – in order to have fair debate, makes for more interesting television.
However, he added that it is not for him to be the “moral arbiter of the world” regarding who can appear on his celebrity chat show and that not inviting celebrities who have been “cancelled” on his show “seems just as bad” as inviting them and laughing along with them.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Norton spoke of the selection process regarding his chat show guests, in light of the BBC’s impartiality policy.
“It’s very hard to find a Right-wing guest and, if you do, the audience probably don’t want to see them,” he said.
So there you have it, folks: BBC audiences don’t want to see “Right-wing” guests. It doesn’t seem to occur to Norton that this is a self-fulfilling policy. It is also a big problem for a national broadcaster that is funded by a compulsory subscription and is supposed to be impartial.
Last month, Norton invited J.K. Rowling on the radio (not BBC radio, note) despite saying the author has “problematic” views on trans issues. Why it’s “problematic” to believe that biological sex defines male and female, and not problematic to believe a man should have access to female spaces merely on his own say-so, Norton does not explain.