ANDREW Neil has spoken out against the left-wing cancel culture currently targeting his eagerly anticipated new broadcasting venture.
“It is bizarre to try to ban or boycott a channel that hasn’t yet broadcast a second of footage”, Neil told Good Morning Britain, in response to a fresh campaign to prevent GB News, of which Neil is Chairman, from obtaining advertising deals. “And to be smeared as a hateful channel – I mean, I’ve been broadcasting for almost 40 years on and off; I have never indulged in hate. I find it rather hateful that they think that we’d go down the road of hate”.
“People should be free to say what they want and do what they want – that’s fine. But there’s a particular strand of opinion now among this kind of woke group that says ‘it’s not enough for to be able to say I disagree with you, I’m going to stop what you’re doing” he added.
Taking to Twitter, some left-wing individuals took offence at Neil’s use of the term ‘woke’.
“The original definition of woke is out of date” the popular presenter and journalist replied. “As a ‘concern for social justice’, nobody could object. But it has morphed into a cancel culture that seeks not just to disagree but to close down ideas and people with which it disagrees. Insidious.”
Andrew Neil’s highly anticipated GB News is due to launch early in 2021 on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media. Already, the Financial Times has forecast that the channel will be ‘right-leaning’, despite the fact that the new channel’s line-up includes ardent remainer Rachel Johnson, and being financially backed in part by Discovery, Inc. (the owners of the Discovery Channel), and Sir Paul Marshall, a LibDem.
