Nigel Kennedy has branded the BBC a “pitiful and desperately politically correct institution” as he criticised their woke credentials.
The violinist took aim at the broadcaster following the release of his new memoir, Nigel Kennedy Uncensored!, lamenting the organisation’s culture of political correctness.
Kennedy, 63, told the Daily Mail: “Public reaction to this self-indulgence is already taking the shape of even more apathy and resentment, which will inevitably lead to refusal to pay the licence fee and the discarding of TV in general in favour of the internet.”
‘Farce Night’ of the Proms
He even referred to a BBC First Night of the Proms episode as “the Farce Night” after a singer dedicated her performance to transgender people.
Kennedy said: “What for? Why? That type of irrelevant superficial claptrap was too much to take and had nothing to do with the music she was performing, unless she thought it couldn’t stand up for itself.
“To think that we pay a licence fee to hear that kind of spouting. I respect everyone whatever their gender, but meritocracy is what we’re looking for. This insistence on quotas and equality of outcome… there should be an equal chance for everyone as long as they’re prepared to work hard.”
In the wake of the remark, Kennedy revealed that he responded to the singer: “I would like to dedicate my part of the performance to all the forgotten and displaced heterosexuals around the world.”
However, the joke backfired and Kennedy was met with an “unamused glower” from two viola players “as if heterosexuals shouldn’t be recognised or allowed to celebrate anything”.
Supporting his son
His criticism of the BBC isn’t the only controversial topic he touched upon in the interview. He discussed sex, partying, cannabis use and his decision to stand by his son Sark, 25, who was jailed earlier this month after being caught with more than £15,000 worth of cocaine in his car.
Kennedy, who has been nicknamed “the punk violinist”, said: “He knows that I’m around to offer him an alternative life and he knows that I love him. I’m going to see him [in prison] pretty soon, so I’ll remind him of that. But I’m not going to pull him up by the ear. It’s not my place.”
