Former London mayor Ken Livingstone fired from radio show following Hitler comments
Reached for comment by the The Independent concerning his firing from the LBC Radio program, Livingstone seemed perplexed by the decision.
By DANIEL J. ROTHUpdated: MAY 28, 2016 21:41Ken Livingstone(photo credit: REUTERS)
Controversial former mayor of London Ken Livingstone was fired from his radio broadcast show Saturday following comments he made last month claiming Adolf Hitler supported Zionism, according to The Independent.Livingstone, who hosted a Saturday morning talk show on LBC Radio, was informed of the decision over the weekend by the station's owner, Global Radio.On news of Livingstone's abrupt termination, The Campaign Against Antisemitism hailed the decision, saying in a statement that they "applaud" Global Radio for taking appropriate action against the former UK Labour official.“The strongest response to racism is for society to shun racists, which is what LBC’s owner Global Radio has rightly done, and we applaud them for heeding our calls," the statement said.“Having offended Jewish people, and others committed to decency and anti-racism, Ken Livingstone proceeded to repeat his comments as widely and frequently as possible in the media. Global has now removed his most prominent outlet for doing so,” it added.During an interview with the BBC last month, Livingstone, who served as London's mayor from 2000 to 2008, said: "Let’s remember when Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism – this before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews."The comments came one day after Labor MP Naz Shah was suspended by the Labour party for posting anti-Semitic tropes on social media.Soon after, the faction released a statement, saying that Livingstone had been suspended "for bringing the Party into disrepute."Reached for comment by the The Independent concerning his firing from the LBC Radio program, Livingstone seemed perplexed by the decision.“It’s crazy really because when...I started doing that program it had 50,000 listeners and now it’s 300,000.
“It’s weird because I would have thought good capitalists would want to carry on making a profit."The UK Labour party has faced a torrent of criticism over the past few months, being accused of harboring anti-Semitic members within in ranks following multiple resignations or suspensions from dozens of party members.Most of those who have left Labour had either made or supported anti-Semitic or anti-Israel messages posted to social media.