Farage swoops in to save the dying far-right news network
Nigel Farage has been cast in a starring role with GB News after presenter Guto Harri was removed from the air for taking the knee in a show of support for England footballers who were racially abused online after the Euro 2020 final.
Following the final last Sunday, which saw Italy beat England on penalties, a number of Black players including
Marcus Rashford,
Jadon Sancho, and
Bukayo Saka all received racial harassment online.
Harri, who spent eighteen years at the BBC prior to joining the new channel, took the knee in a show of solidarity and illustrated how his opinions have grown surrounding the gesture.
"I actually with the benefit of hindsight, I may have underestimated how close to the surface the racism still is, I actually get it," he said. "I think we should all take the knee."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCdhpG_0o3U
After GB News said that taking the knee was "an unacceptable breach of [their] standards," their viewing figures plummeted to absolute zero.
BARB reports that Liam Halligan and former Labour MP Gloria De Piero had no gaugeable audience during their show. At the same time, the BBC News channel attracted 62,000 viewers, while Sky News had 50,000 people watching.
Director of programming John McAndrew also resigned, with The Guardian reporting that this was due to management pressure to reduce local content and boost opinionated debate.
With its far-right viewership scattering, and the infant channel looking to be on its last legs, producers have called in the big guns. The former UKIP leader will present a show from Monday to Thursday entitled
Farage.
https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1416427725770866690
“Watch this space," said station founder Andrew Neil of the decision.
