ANDREW Neil has broken his two-week silence over GB News to reassure viewers that the channel is on the up, following a chaotic few days mired by objections to a presenter taking the knee live on air.
The popular news channel sparked a fierce debate this week over Harri taking the knee live on air – with some viewers voicing their outrage, and others arguing that the the entire point of the channel is to broadcast balanced content that supports free speech.
Yesterday, GB News issued the following statement through its Twitter account:
“GB News stands four square against racism in all its forms. We do not have a company line on taking the knee. Some of our guests have been in favour, some against. All are anti-racist. We have editorial standards that all GB News journalists uphold.
“On Tuesday a contributing presenter took the knee live on air and this was an unacceptable breach of our standards.
“We let both sides of the argument down by oversimplifying a very complex issue.”
Today, following the suspension of Harri, at least two senior members of staff are understood to have quit the channel.
Viewer figures took a drastic drop in the days that followed Harri taking the knee – a gesture with links to the controversial and Marxist BLM movement – with two of the programme’s shows receiving zero viewers from 5pm amid a boycott.
“Yet, finally breaking his silence after taking a break from GB News and not sharing any of its content on his Twitter account for the past two weeks, Andrew Neil said today:
“Start ups are fraught and fractious. @GBNEWS is no exception. But the news channel is finding its feet and has a great future.
“Watch this space” he added.
