A Sunday Times writer who penned an opinion piece defending the BBC's gender pay gap has been sacked by his employer, after making derogatory comments about Jews and women.
British-Irish columnist Kevin Myers explained why he thought men were often superior employees to women in the editorial, before insinuating that a pair of highly paid female presenters had negotiated a better salary than others because they were Jewish.
It's not the first time Myers has been embroiled in controversy, having previously referred to children of unmarried mothers as bastards, and alleging that Africa fails to contribute anything to the global community except HIV/AIDS.
It's also not the first time he's been slammed for anti-Semitism, having previously denied that the Holocaust occurred - referring to his claim that the murder of 6 million Jews by Nazis didn't actually happen as "an irrefutable truth" back in 2009.
But it's his latest gaffe that has brought about his demise, having invoked ire for anti-Semitism and bigotry in a single article - though The Sunday Times has only apologised for the former.
"Good for them," he wrote, referring to high-earning Jewish broadcasters Claudia Winkleman and Vanessa Feltz.
"Jews are not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price, which is the most useful measure there is of inveterate, lost-with-all-hands stupidity."
He went on to offer an explanation of why there was just one woman among the BBC's best-paid presenters list.
"Now, why is this? Is it because men are more charismatic performers? Because they work harder? Because they are more driven? Possibly a bit of each," he wrote.
"Men usually work harder, get sick less frequently and seldom get pregnant."
Sunday Times editors Martin Ivens and Frank Fitzgibbon have since made the call to take the article down, and apologised for the "error of judgement" that saw the remarks of Myers published in the first place.
Myers has been fired from his role as columnist for the paper, while an apology is also expected to be published in next week's edition of The Irish Times, where the column first featured.
Newshub.
