Wednesday 26 November 2008

Jon Gaunt: '20,000 want me back at talkSport'

Sacked shock-jock Jon Gaunt has said in an e-mail to subscribers to his website Gaunty.com "There have now been the best part of 20,000 emails sent in to talkSPORT of support, so thank you very much. Plus the press are also supporting me and I am delighted that Liberty have taken up the case."
It was revealed yesterday that civil rights group Liberty had written to talkSPORT bosses urging Gaunt's reinstatement. This was despite the fact that Gaunt, in one of his Sun columns, had described Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti as the “most dangerous woman in Britain.” Gaunt, sacked for calling a local councillor "a Nazi", claims talkSPORT chief executive Scott Taunton is sending out a standard email to his supporters, stating: "Following a thorough internal investigation into events surrounding Mr Gaunt`s interview with Redbridge councillor Michael Stark on 7th November, he was found to be in breach of a significant number of obligations he made in a signed agreement with the station. I have, of course, set out each of these in a letter to Jon. As you are no doubt aware, Jon has stated his intention to take legal action over the matter and I am therefore unable to comment further to you at this stage."
Given, Gaunt's forthright right wing views he is attracting an unlikley alliance of liberal supporters which include Guardian columnist Mark Lawson. "He is nowhere near as right wing in real life as his on air persona would suggest," one of his supporters tells me.

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