What did Alastair Stewart do?

[StuckBetweenDarknessAndLight]

Apparently he's resigned because of an error of judgement in his social media use. What did he do/say?

It was racist. Actually calling anyone an ape is stripping the of them of their civilised humanity. It's a shitty thing to do.

Calling someone an ape might well be rude but it's not necessarily racist unless you would only say it because a person is black. Wanting a person to be sacked without truly knowing that to be true is wrong imo.
It's time to stop conflating feelings with facts.

Wow this is like the Laurence Fox fan club.

Is a black person not allowed to call out racism for themselves?

Saying otherwise is gas lighting the victim.

He didn’t call a black man an ape. He quote tweeted the man, but the Shakespeare quote wasn’t as a reply to him.

AS used the full Shakespeare quote in reply to a white female (possibly Irish).

The black male didn’t accuse AS of racism until the female said something like “careful, someone who doesn’t understand Shakespeare will call you racist”. The black man then cut the quote to emphasise the ‘ape’ part and retweeted it, including ITN.

AS was pompously using the quote to dig at the black male for being thick/pretending to understand something he didn’t know anything about. The quote is about the arrogance of Man.

The black male’s Twitter is full of hate quotes about white men and white privilege. And a lot of tweets to other people’s employers with racism accusations.

AS has been a pompous twat, but I don’t think he’s racist. I also think the black male is an attention seeker.

You can say that you believe him to be racist. And other people can disagree with you. I saw two black people being interviewed this morning on breakfast telly, who had opposing opinions. The person defending AS was the one who'd actually met him and worked with him. The other person hadn't iirc.
You can't fairly (imo) sack somebody on the basis of opinion. It's not like sacking a football hooligan who was making monkey noises at a match, where there can be no doubt as to their intention.
Where there is doubt, I feel you have to give benefit of the doubt - innocent until proven guilty.

I'm pretty sure that the person in Measure for Measure (Angelo) the original quote was said to, was not black, so the original use of the word ape was not as a racist insult. And I don't think AS intended it to be, or considered that it might be taken as such, in this scenario either.

It's a bit like when someone calls a child a 'little monkey' for being cheeky and larking about, fine if it's a white child, not ok if it's a black child, even though the intended meaning by the person saying it is the same.

People can say things with no intention of being offensive, but without full consideration of their audiences perception. Although, it would be difficult for everyone to manage this all of the time, surely it is expected that people may sometimes, unintentionally, offend, appologise and learn something.

I do think this incident will play into the hands of those who like to shout 'they're pulling the race card'.

AS has been a pompous twat, but I don’t think he’s racist. I also think the black male is an attention seeker

What do you think of this response from AS?

That he’s innocent?

My understanding is that this is the third time AS has used that quote on Twitter. In essence he is saying to the person to stop rambling on about things he knows little about. The other people he used the same quote to are white.

Is AS a racist? I don’t know him so cannot say. Those closest to him, including Ranvir Singh, say categorically not. I don’t think the tweet becomes inherently racist simply because the recipient is black.

Racist irrespective of the where the quote was sourced - why are people surprised he's lost his job? I'm always amazed by what people do on social media.

He lost his job for being a smart arse racist because he was racist. He sent the black man several messages which were offensive including one denying that the black man could have a degree because he was black.

@miltonic, can you provide evidence for your claim that AS said the man couldn’t possibly have a degree because he’s black?

That’s a massive accusation. I really hope you have proof of it.

@holte, what makes it racist? Was it also racist when he previously directed the same quote at the white men? Does it become racist purely because this time the recipient is black?

can you provide evidence for your claim that AS said the man couldn’t possibly have a degree because he’s black?

That’s what’s been reported in the Guardian.

www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jan/30/alastair-stewart-itv-departure-regrettable-twitter-row-martin-shapland?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It hasn't been 'reported in The Guardian'. The article just links to a tweet from someone who 'recalls' (no evidence provided) that "AS went on a rant about Martin's education level, dismissed the possibility he could have a degree". She doesn't say that he ('as she recalls") dismissed the possibility of his having a degree 'because he was black'. And since all the tweets have been deleted, there's no evidence for this claim.

@WarmSausageTea, I’ve just read the article and nowhere can I see that. I see a tweet by someone else saying AS questioned the man’s level of education. But nowhere that he questioned his level of education based on the colour of his skin which is a whole different ball game. So please can you show me the part that says he questioned his level of education based on his skin colour?

X posts with IcedPurple.

I work with lots of young people with degrees. I frequently roll my eyes and question how they can possibly be educated to degree level because some of them display a startling lack of common sense. Some are white, some are black. The common denominator is the fact their general knowledge is often shockingly poor.

He sent the black man several messages which were offensive including one denying that the black man could have a degree because he was black.

This is simply a malicious lie. Why would you make up this sort of shit?

I feel I must be missing something. Why is that Shakespearean quote racist?

@Neednewwellies yes precisely

I don’t think the tweet becomes inherently racist simply because the recipient is black.

This!

I'm coming late to this so excuse my ignorance but did AS know the colour of the person's skin when he posted the quote? Genuine (maybe ignorant) question. On Twitter can you see photos of people or did AS know who he "talking " to at the time?

@holte, precisely what? Are you seriously saying that a statement made to three people, 2 white, 1 black, with the same meaning and intent becomes racist in the case of the black man simply because he’s black?

I don't know enough details about this particular situation but I really want to tackle a comment I hear made very often about racism, and somebody mentioned it earlier in the thread.

Saying that somebody did not INTEND to cause offence does NOT mean a remark is not offensive. In this day and age I would guess the vast majority of people like to think they are not racist. Whether you see yourself as racist or not you might say something offensive, maybe without realising. But if something does cause offence then why wouldn't you apologise and try to make amends in some way? Why would you want to carry on defending the remark?

The person on the receiving end gets to decide if they are offended or not, not the person who said it.