Richard Keys Resigns

[os5889]

All over Twitter, Sky News official twitter is reporting the story too

[White Noise]

Thats a damn shame. A fine man and an excellent broadcaster. Hounded out by the PC brigade. We shall not see his like again.   :012:

[ImperialWhite]

Thats a damn shame. A fine man and an excellent broadcaster. Hounded out by the PC brigade. We shall not see his like again.   :012:

Sarcasm surely?

[HatterDon]

Thats a damn shame. A fine man and an excellent broadcaster. Hounded out by the PC brigade. We shall not see his like again.   :012:

Sarcasm surely?

Of course, and don't call him Shirley.

[ImperialWhite]

Thats a damn shame. A fine man and an excellent broadcaster. Hounded out by the PC brigade. We shall not see his like again.   :012:

Sarcasm surely?

Of course, and don't call him Shirley.

Don't worry, I'm taking 'a sense of humour' pills three times a day.

[The Equalizer]

He mentioned that 'dark forces' were what caused his resignation.

Dark forces... nothing to do with 'stupidity forces'. Darth Murdoch must have really had it in for him.

[LBNo11]

...sorry, I find his apologies totally insincere, he says he is sorry - but it doesn't come across as being sorry for what he has done as much as he is sorry for him and Gray being caught.

Too long at the top and people afraid to tell them when they stepped out of line...

[ImperialWhite]

...sorry, I find his apologies totally insincere, he says he is sorry - but it doesn't come across as being sorry for what he has done as much as he is sorry for him and Gray being caught.

Too long at the top and people afraid to tell them when they stepped out of line...

Yes, it was the slimiest, most slippery apology I've ever heard. He said rather ambiguously "it was wrong" a lot, but when the interviewer tried to pin him down to specfics on anything, all he got was a "I'll let others be the judge".

[The Doctor]

I'm a cynical git at the best of times, and I find myself thinking that Keys is playing this one very well.  He's got in quick and played the penitent - in stark contrast to Gray who has only said he "was going to apologise live on air", but was denied this opportunity when the P45 hit the mat.

There will probably be a few TV appearances in which Keys bolsters this image of himself as a man denied his calling in life by a cruel and uncaring world.  After a while there might even be an autobiography of his time at Sky with a heavy focus on the events of this week.  Naturally, it will be serialised - probably in one of NewsCorps papers.

After a sufficient period of martyrdom, he'll pop up fronting sports coverage on another channel.

Well played, sir

[AlFayedsChequebook]

I'm a cynical git at the best of times, and I find myself thinking that Keys is playing this one very well.  He's got in quick and played the penitent - in stark contrast to Gray who has only said he "was going to apologise live on air", but was denied this opportunity when the P45 hit the mat.

There will probably be a few TV appearances in which Keys bolsters this image of himself as a man denied his calling in life by a cruel and uncaring world.  After a while there might even be an autobiography of his time at Sky with a heavy focus on the events of this week.  Naturally, it will be serialised - probably in one of NewsCorps papers.

After a sufficient period of martyrdom, he'll pop up fronting sports coverage on another channel.

Well played, sir

Well played? Did you hear his interview? From 'the fiver' at the Guardian:

EARLIER THIS AFTERNOON, RICHARD KEYS PITCHED UP AT THE talkSPORT STUDIOS TO 'APOLOGISE' FOR HIS PART IN THAT SKY SEXISM BUSINESS, ANNOUNCING HE WAS THERE BECAUSE HE DOESN'T HAVE AN AGENT OR A PR MAN. WHAT FOLLOWS ARE SEVERAL COMPELLING REASONS WHY HE SHOULD CONSIDER HIRING AT LEAST ONE OF EACH

• "There are two sides to every argument. We are losing at the moment but we do live in a democracy, there are two sides to this. Please. We've aired one a lot, let's hear the other one a bit."

• "I will get criticism whatever I do going forward. I am not whining. I am not here to defend myself. I am not here apologising or feeling sorry for myself. I am here to make a statement, which I have so far been unable to do, to say sorry, not just to the individuals who have been immediately offended but to the wider viewing public ..."

• "There will be people who will say I should have come and apologised on Monday. I couldn't come Monday, I couldn't come Tuesday, there was too much else happening." [Eh, what about Sunday? - Fiver Ed.]

• "There's a firestorm raging out there and it's been very difficult to step into the middle of it and get across the way I'm feeling and correct some of the misinformation that's been put about ..."

• "I would like to reiterate what I said to Sian Massey on Sunday afternoon ... I rang on behalf of Andy and myself and made an official apology, which Sian accepted. She and I enjoyed some banter together. We left on very good terms."

• "It was ironic. I know when you listen to these things in the manner in which they've been presented they sound very different but of course it was all part of a wider conversation that everyone there on the day was having."

• "I noticed Rio Ferdinand twittered ... Rio, are you telling me it doesn't take place in the Manchester United dressing room because my information is that it does?" The clips that you've seen are fairly selective. They've targeted two individuals. It might be that that's not necessarily representative of our studio, which is our dressing room ..."

• "One of the reasons that we were probably in overdrive on Saturday is that we had a fresh guest with us – Matt Murray, who used to play in goal for Wolves – we wanted to make him feel relaxed and comfortable. That was part of that process."

• "Sky Sports is not inherently sexist ... we're a little bit like Wimbledon: we've had to upset a few people on the way to get noticed. All those colourful jackets I used to wear ... but there's many people drinking from the well that we dug ... success breeds envy."

•"There's some dark forces at work here ... There's a row raging at the moment about the invasion of privacy – phone tapping – ... what's the difference between what happened to us and what's happened, allegedly, to many others?"

• "I tried to ring Karren [Brady] twice on Sunday night. She didn't answer the phone. There is no answer phone on Karren's mobile. That may be a sign of the times at West Ham. So I texted her and asked her to ring me back... she chose not to respond to my text. A by-product of all this is that it's taken West Ham out of the press and she knows, and so does everybody else, what a mess they made of trying to appoint Martin O'Neill. She was getting it in the neck, she claims that's because she is a woman. She played that card, rightly or wrongly."

• "There's a lot of very good female presenters out there who I've played a major part in them getting a break in this country and they know it. Gabby [Logan], Kelly Cates, whose dad called me right at the start of her career and said 'can you help?' .... Just to prove that I don't just help those of one particular gender: Alan Hansen, Alan Shearer ... we know full well that whatever I say today is likely to be misunderstood, misrepresented and turned around to suit the purposes of whichever organisation it is that is reporting this ..."

• "[What I said was] shocking, horrible, out of order, wrong, old-fashioned, behavioural problems that need to be attended to ... reconstruction, yeah. Again, it's a fairly selective moment from the studio that night, read into that what you will. But it shouldn't have happened. I have re-evaluated my attitude. I wouldn't be here now if I hadn't. It's not enough for me to sit here saying 'I'm a changed man'. There's a process to undergo, I am happy to take it."

• "I hope this makes it easier for others to follow Sian. I hope this starts the process of recovery and everybody know can just step back and understand that these boorish and bullish guys understand the magnitude of what happened.

• "Oh look at that screen: I've worked for Sky for 20 years and they've spelt my name wrong!"

[BalDrick]

Good riddance - slimy piece of poo who one hopes will be completely blanked by all his 'mates' - ex-players surely must think he's a waste of space.

[The Doctor]

I find it amusing as well how this has transcended the original incident.  Two overpaid and wilfully ignorant hacks give someone some stick on company time.  The rest of the media leap on it so as to stick the boot into their (bigger) rival.  Given this, sacrifices were bound to be made by Sky to defend its image.

As with so much in the modern age, it's become a popularity contest.  These journos are used to the game, and I think Keys is playing along.  He'll take a lot of flak, and he seems prepared to accept it knowing its a necessary step if he's to carry on in this line of work.

I'm not defending anybody, as I honestly don't think anyone emerges out of this with any credit.  But in the grand scheme of things, it'll all be relative.  Somewhere down the line, you'll start hearing thngs like "At least Keys sought to apologise, didn't hear that from Gray".

Meanwhile, Sky will appoint a new anchorman and analyst and everybody will find them equally as objectionable on a day-to-day basis as those that have just left

[Logicalman]

Meanwhile, Sky will appoint a new anchorman and analyst and everybody will find them equally as objectionable on a day-to-day basis as those that have just left

.. just as long as they're not the richards that currently front ESPNs coverage, that all I ask.

[Logicalman]

Interesting all the videos that are suddenly appearing. Here's one from a while back, where Gray cannot control himself when looking at womens FA Cup Final ... and about those 'dark forces'? Uh-huh, we call it racism and sexism over here Keys and Gray, perhaps in your male-dominated world you might not have heard of them, prats.

I just wonder if they would take as much pee out of a team of youngsters playing the same game?

Andy Gray & Richard Keys Laughing At Women's Football

[White Noise]

Gross misconduct. End of.

They can sue Murdoch Inc all they like but he has the best lawyers on the planet and will win and then hit them with them with the biggest set of costs and counter sue for damage to their brand/reputation.

Keys and Gray will lose all their money, their wives and friends will desert them and then, when their reputations are in shreds and even the Big Issue sellers will not pass the time with them, they will be ready to join TalkSport.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Gross misconduct. End of.

They can sue Murdoch Inc all they like but he has the best lawyers on the planet and will win and then hit them with them with the biggest set of costs and counter sue for damage to their brand/reputation.

Keys and Gray will lose all their money, their wives and friends will desert them and then, when their reputations are in shreds and even the Big Issue sellers will not pass the time with them, they will be ready to join TalkSport.

When their is lots of video evidence of gross misconduct, you wonder what their defence will be? 'It was not me on the tape, your honour'

Also, I would not want to take on Murdoch at all when you work in television media. They may never work again.

[BalDrick]

'Also, I would not want to take on Murdoch at all when you work in television media. They may never work again.'

Which has a wonderful irony to it bearing in mind how much they've praised the not-even-remotely-level-playing-surface that is the Premiership. Personally couldn't give a toss about Gray - at least he was good at his first job - but I'd love to see Keys in real trouble, home repossessed, missus walking out on him with the kids.

[White Noise]

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Richard-Keys-Andy-Gray-sexism-row-Sacked-Gray-to-sue-Sky-Sports-for-3m-unfair-dismissal-article682855.html

[FulhamRob]

Loving the 'holier than thou' commentators and message board posters. Who even on here can say, hand on heart, they've never said things that would come across these days as being not politically correct when they've been chatting with mates???!!!!

I'd hate to think what I've said in the past on all manner of subjects. If, however, it's his honestly held view then why should he apologise? The last time I looked we supposedly had the right of free speech in this country although that sadly doesn't seem to be the case.

Maybe we should look at firing those hideous creatures on the TV programme Loose Women (for US readers that are lucky not to have access to it, this is basically a panel show where a collection of women verbally bash men for about an hour at lunchtime).

[White Noise]

Loving the 'holier than thou' commentators and message board posters. Who even on here can say, hand on heart, they've never said things that would come across these days as being not politically correct when they've been chatting with mates???!!!!

I'd hate to think what I've said in the past on all manner of subjects. If, however, it's his honestly held view then why should he apologise? The last time I looked we supposedly had the right of free speech in this country although that sadly doesn't seem to be the case.

Maybe we should look at firing those hideous creatures on the TV programme Loose Women (for US readers that are lucky not to have access to it, this is basically a panel show where a collection of women verbally bash men for about an hour at lunchtime).

But its not chatting with mates and its not banter. Its in the workplace, miked up and surrounded by colleagues of both sexes - gross misconduct in any work context. Its not banter because their tone is deadly serious - no laughter - nothing. Look at all the quotes from colleagues and former colleagues saying there was a culture of sexism and bullying. Totally, totally different from 'banter' down the pub.

What I am loving is the holier than thou messageboard posters attacking the holier than thou message board posters.  Anyone who does this sort of  thing in the workplace is as big a scumbag as these two. Are we not allowed to condemn people for things that are clearly wrong anymore?