Is Manford 'too Northern' for Londoners?
Row over 'joke' Tweets
Jason Manford has caused something of a storm after claiming that he was rejected for a job on a London-based radio show because he is 'too Northern'.The Salford-born comic auditioned for a role standing in for Johnny Vaughanon on Capital FM's breakfast show.
But on his Twitter page, he said that chief executive Richard Park considered his background inappropriate.
He joked: ‘To be fair, I have hidden my Northerness for years now so they probably didn't realise when they asked me to test. Shouldn't have worn the cap.’
The 28-year-old later added: ‘Right off out to race pigeons, stroke whippets, eat pies, smoke rollups, drink bitter, watch Corrie and have a fight. Hope that's not too Northern.’
A spokesman for Capital’s owners Global Radio said: ‘Jason didn’t get the position, because there were better candidates, not because of where he is from. 95.8 Capital FM employs people from all over the UK.’
After the story leapt from Twitter to the printed press, Manford added a new post saying: ‘Twitter disclaimer. Some things I tweet may or may not be true. Sometimes I may make things up, you know for a laugh like!’
But Manford has managed to cover for one Londoner on the radio, replacing Danny Baker on 5Live’s morning show on Saturday March 20.
Published: 12 Mar 2010
