John McCririck loses age discrimination employment tribunal

Racing pundit John McCririck has lost his age discrimination employment tribunal case against Channel 4.

During the hearing McCririck claimed sexist remarks and rude behaviour, especially on reality TV shows such as Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity Wife Swap, were a "pantomime" role that had been actively encouraged by Channel 4. But the panel was told by witnesses from the station and IMG that he was dropped because he was "offensive" and "disgusting". McCririck was ditched when Channel 4 awarded the contract for racing to IMG Media last year, and unveiled a new presenting team headed by Clare Balding. In closing submissions Thomas Linden QC, counsel for Channel 4, said McCririck had suggested he could switch from one "thoroughly obnoxious" persona to another, more serious one. But he said it was not the case that bosses could say: "Look John, please be clean-shaven, please wear a grey suit, please don't go for this extravagant manner, please don't portray yourself as slightly mad, please don't be aggressive with the public, please don't call your colleagues by nicknames, please drop your reality television career because it's impinging on your work", and McCririck would have complied. "As a matter of reality it simply isn't the case," Mr Linden said. "We see time and time again the possibility of the claimant being a serious character and failing woefully," he added, giving an example of a Sunday Times interview where McCririck had "gone on" about Kate Winslet's breasts and wanting to have sex with Dawn French. Mr Linden told the tribunal that a survey suggested that McCririck was highly unpopular with viewers. "Even without data, it's a reasonable assumption, isn't it, that the claimant's profile, whether that is in his reality television programmes or in racing broadcasting, was off-putting to many," he said. "A lot of racing viewers are right-thinking people who find this sort of behaviour obnoxious." Jennifer Eady QC, representing McCririck, told the panel the 73-year-old had already suffered the humiliation of having his days and hours cut but had carried on working. "Why? Because Mr McCririck was passionate about this job," she said. "If there was one thing he loved doing it was this and he had done it for 28 years. "It was hard to draw any conclusion other than this was his life." She said IMG wanted a "younger, sexier, more glamorous" programme, which had influenced the decision to axe McCririck from its coverage. "You have got to ask, have the respondents demonstrated that the decision had nothing to do whatsoever with the claimant's age?" she said. But the employment tribunal panel ruled against the pundit. In its judgment, the panel said: "All the evidence is that Mr McCririck's pantomime persona, as demonstrated on the celebrity television appearances, and his persona when appearing on Channel 4 Racing, together with his self-described bigoted and male chauvinist views were clearly unpalatable to a wider potential audience. "The tribunal is satisfied that the respondent had the legitimate aim of attracting a wider audience to horseracing." An IMG spokesman said: "IMG is pleased that the tribunal's unanimous decision has recognised that age discrimination played no part in the decision not to include John McCririck in the Channel 4 Racing team from 2013."