Talk show DJ is suspended for saying he’s not ‘white and privileged’ during an on-air debate about Black Lives Matter
- Stuart Peters, 65, has worked for Manx Radio on the Isle of Man for 20 years
- He said he understood why protests were happening in the US but not in the UK
- The Free Speech Union defended him and started a campaign to reinstate him
A popular radio DJ has been suspended after defending himself during an on-air debate about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Talk-show host Stuart Peters denied he had benefited from ‘white privilege’ when challenged by a black listener on his late-night programme. The presenter was taken off the air the following day.
Last night he told The Mail on Sunday the decision amounted to an ‘Orwellian attempt at mind and speech control’.
Talk-show host Stuart Peters (pictured) denied he had benefited from ‘white privilege’ when challenged by a black listener on his late-night programme
Mr Peters, 65, who has worked for Manx Radio on the Isle of Man for 20 years, had previously condemned the ‘awful’ and ‘despicable’ murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month. He had also voiced his support for the Black Lives Matter protests.
But on June 3, the DJ was attacked on air by 28-year-old Jordan Maguire because he had written an earlier blog post stating that ‘all lives matter’. According to Mr Maguire, this was ‘derogatory’.
‘For all lives to matter we have to raise the people of all creeds, colours, religions to the level that white people’s privilege allows them to be,’ the caller told the show. Mr Peters retorted: ‘I’ve had no more privilege in my life than you have. I’m a white man, you’re a black man, you say.’
Last night Mr Peters said: ‘How anyone can take real offence at anything I said that night, or the way I said it, is beyond comprehension, and that so many – most of whom probably haven’t even heard the show – want to see me lose my career because they imagine some slight is scary.’
In the show, Mr Peters had questioned why the BLM movement triggered protests outside America, including at Tynwald, the Isle of Man’s parliament. He told listeners: ‘I can understand very clearly why people in America are protesting about it. I can understand why Black Lives Matter – an American organisation – is protesting about it. But what I can’t understand is why people around the rest of the world are protesting, and specifically in the Isle of Man.’
Mr Peters, 65, who has worked for Manx Radio on the Isle of Man for 20 years, had previously condemned the ‘awful’ and ‘despicable’ murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month. He had also voiced his support for the Black Lives Matter protests. Pictured: Black Lives Matter protest in London
A campaign has now been launched to reinstate the DJ.
The Free Speech Union has rallied to his defence, warning the row is an attempt to shame individuals for not subscribing ‘to the latest woke orthodoxies’.
The organisation’s director, Toby Young, added: ‘The suspension of Stu Peters by Manx Radio just because he challenged the concept of “white privilege” is a clear breach of his right to free speech.’
Manx Radio’s managing director Chris Sully confirmed the matter was under investigation but said he was ‘unable to comment further’.