In January, two sports hosts left Sky Sports (the “brand name” for “sports-oriented television channels” run by Sky Broadcasting) because of their sexist comments. Richard Keys resigned and Andy Gray was fired. (See iMediaEthics earlier post about the resignation and firing here.)
And now, Louise Glass, one of the women Keys made inappropriate comments about, intends to sue Sky “for breach of privacy and defamation of character,” the Mail reported. Keys had asked Glass’s ex-boyfriend Jamie Redknapp “if he had ‘smashed it’ – slang for slept with her.” Keys also said, according to the Mirror, “Mind you, that’s a stupid question — if you were anywhere near it, you definitely smashed it.”
Glass’s husband, Jimmy Glass, reportedly called Sky “to ensure his wife’s name was bleeped out of the clip,” which wasn’t published for a year. Glass said:
“Richard Keys spoke of me like I was some old whore, like I was nothing…I’m not a prude, I’ve got a sense of humour, but the level of aggression in there was awful. I wasn’t even a whore. I was an ‘it’. My life has turned upside down and now I’m paying the price for their slapstick.”
“It’s disrespectful and I’ve been defamed, completely out of the blue, by someone I’ve never met and whoever’s responsible for leaking that should really pay the price.”