TalkSPORT say they are "deeply sorry" to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and Daniel Levy after footage emerged of a caller to the station claiming the club's chairman wanted a large fee for Harry Kane because he was Jewish.
On Tuesday night, talkSPORT presenters Perry Groves and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan were discussing the Harry Kane transfer saga on The Sports Bar show.
During one segment, a fan called in to speak about the situation when Jarrett-Bryan asked: "Are you saying Spurs should get the fee they feel he's worth? And if they don't get that, he's not going anywhere."
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The fan responded by saying: "Yeah but Levy, Levy is... he's a Jew. He's not gonna let him go for nothing, is he?"
Groves, clearly shocked by the comments, shook his head but the pair were criticised on social media for failing to criticise the comments made.
In a statement on their website, talkSPORT have since condemned the offensive remark and apologised.
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"A caller phoned The Sports Bar on talkSPORT and made an offensive remark about Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy," the statement read. "This was broadcast live on the talkSPORT YouTube channel, despite being 'dumped' on air, meaning it was not broadcast on our radio channels."
Lee Clayton, who is the Head of talkSPORT, released the following apology.
"We are all appalled by the comment that was made by a caller during a live YouTube broadcast of The Sports Bar. There is absolutely no room for discrimination of any kind in society.
"We are deeply sorry to Tottenham and, especially, to chairman Daniel Levy, as well as their supporters and the Jewish community for the offence caused by this hateful comment, which should never have been broadcast.
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"The comment was rightly dumped on our radio station, where we broadcast with a slight delay to ensure any unexpected and inappropriate comments don't make it to air. It was, however, streamed live on the talkSPORT YouTube channel, which we are currently testing and which awaits a similar profanity/offence delay.
"Our team did not take our YouTube stream into consideration and therefore the comments were not challenged as they should have been for our viewers on YouTube.
"It is unacceptable that the comment appeared anywhere and as broadcast partners of the Premier League, we take our position very seriously. We are comprehensively reviewing all of our processes, involving our teams across programming, social media and compliance.
"We have suspended live broadcasting on YouTube until we can be sure we have the same processes and protections in place as we have for our radio broadcasting."
Tottenham Hotspur has also released a statement on their official website concerning the incident.
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"The club notes TalkSport's apology following an antisemitic incident on their The Sports Bar programme on Tuesday 3 August," it read.
"We were appalled that neither presenter addressed the comment, failing to call out the antisemitic trope. We are under no doubt that if an equivalent comment had been made regarding an individual's race or other protected characteristic, the response would have been immediate and far-reaching.
"It cannot be acceptable that antisemitism does not receive the same level of condemnation as other forms of discrimination and efforts to tackle it should be no less rigorous."
Topics:ย Spurs, Football, Premier League
