Mike Graham sacked from Talk breakfast show after racist Facebook post
Talk presenter Mike Graham has been sacked from the breakfast show following a racist Facebook post despite saying he had been hacked.
Mike Graham has been sacked from his Talk breakfast show after a racist post appeared on his Facebook account. The journalist claimed he was hacked and issued an apology.
The post in question featured a picture of a statue of Sir Winston Churchill alongside an image of a Tube carriage, with the caption: “Compare and contrast. Tell me we’re not f***** by multicultural bollocks.” The post added: “Why are we surrounded by non-white people? Just f*** off…”
Apologising in a post on X he said: “On Sunday night my Facebook was accessed and a vile message was posted on my page without my knowledge. It contained words that I would never write and an opinion I don’t share.
“As soon as I found out I immediately deleted the post and have taken steps to ensure my cyber security is enhanced. Obviously I am mortified that such a post could have gone out in my name and am now attempting to find out how it could have happened. I am equally very sorry for any distress it has caused to anyone.”
Despite the hacking claim, members of the public pointed out an almost identical photo of the statue of Winston Churchill had been posted on Graham's X account just moments before the Facebook post was published.
The 35-year-old was suspended from his show Morning Glory soon after the post was published and agreed to an investigation. However, staff were told on Wednesday (November 12) he will not be returning.
A spokesperson for News UK, the parent company of Talk, said: “An abhorrent and vile post appeared on Mike Graham's Facebook page in October. Mike Graham said this was not posted by him and he agreed to cooperate with a company investigation, using an independent forensic firm. He later reneged on several opportunities to cooperate with the company investigation.
“We have been gravely concerned at his repeated failure to cooperate on such a serious matter and the decision has been taken that Mike Graham will not return to Talk.”
Graham is no stranger to controversy. In 2020 he was criticised for referring to Celtic FC as "the paedo's football club" on Twitter, while engaging in a spat with a user of the social networking platform.
The following year, he was ridiculed when he disparaged a climate change activist, Cameron Ford, for his use of timber as a building material. Graham suggested it was hypocritical for an environmentalist to work with timber as it requires the felling of trees but when Ford responded that timber is sustainable as trees can be regrown, Graham said it was equally possible to "grow concrete". After a few seconds of silence following this remark, Graham abruptly terminated the interview.
In 2022, Graham made a false claim that mental health charity, Mind, had been funding the legal fees of individuals seeking asylum in the UK. TalkTV issued an apology for the remark and it is understood they later paid substantial damages.