George Lamb’s BBC 6 Music show has escaped censure by Ofcom after receiving half a dozen complaints from listener over an on air comment they believed to be defamatory towards the travelling community.
The exchange, which took place between Lamb and his co-host Marc Hughes, commenting on a bid by Donald Trump to buy and develop land in Scotland, ended with Lamb stating, “Travellers is [sic] like asbestos basically. The whole gaff is getting condemned."
The BBC responded to Ofcom’s query by stating that, “the term “traveller” was used in a negative way during the broadcast, it said that the comment was “not intended to be, nor was it, racist”. Consequently, the show was withdrawn from the BBC iPlayer and the offensive section edited and Lamb made an on air apology the next day.
Due to the BBC’s swift action and apology, the media regulator found the issue to be resolved.
