Like Bertrand Russell, I'm baffled by this, too. It seems totally out of character. The only thing I can think of is that he's not, in fact, 'socially aware', as another poster said. He's very much a-political and seems to have a blind spot about some things. He used to call himself the Candyman, which to me had obvious drug references.
He's been sacked by Radio 5 before. On that occasion because there was a massive row when they cancelled his programme because some major political event took precedence.