Sunday Times of London Fires Columnist After Sexist, Anti-Semitic Story on Equal Pay

Op-ed was pulled from paper’s website but appeared in Irish print version

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The Sunday Times of London fired provocative writer Kevin Myers over an “unacceptable” op-ed he wrote was deemed anti-Semitic and sexist after he denounced a campaign by female BBC staffers regarding equal pay.

Irish journalists with right-leaning views attacked the push to close the pay gap between men and women. The column, titled, “Sorry, Ladies ― Equal Pay Has to Be Earned,” focused on female staffers at the British Broadcasting Corporation who make less than male colleagues because men “work harder” and “are more driven,” according to Myers.

The op-ed has been pulled from the paper’s website but appeared in the Irish print version, according to the New York Times. At one point Myers mocked Jewish people, saying they “are not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price.”

“I note that two of the best-paid women presenters in the BBC — Claudia Winkelman and Vanessa Feltz, with whose, no doubt, sterling work I am tragically unacquainted — are Jewish. Good for them. Jews are not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price, which is the most useful measure there is of inveterate, lost-with-all-hands stupidity. I wonder, who are their agents? If they’re the same ones that negotiated the pay for the women on the lower scales, then maybe the latter have found their true value in their marketplace,” Myers wrote.

He also insinuated that men work harder than women and don’t have to worry about getting pregnant in the story that was widely condemned on social media.

“Only one woman is among the top 10 best-paid BBC presenters. Now, why is this? Is it because men are more charismatic performers? Because they work harder? Because they are more driven? Possibly a bit of each. The human resources department — what used to be called ‘personnel’ until people come to be considered as a metabolising, respiring form of mineral ore — will probably tell you that men usually work harder, get sick less frequently and seldom get pregnant,” Myers wrote.

The paper’s editors took to Twitter to discuss the situation:

 

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