Classic FM says it did NOT bow to ‘Birdshit’ Green’s bully-boy tactics

WE have just learned that the loathsome Stephen “Birdshit” Green’s “victory” over Classic FM was pure wishful thinking.

Green’s claim that CFM had pulled the advertising for Eric Idle’s Not the Messiah after a “deluge of complaints” from “distraught” Christians has been denied by the station’s Managing Director, Darren Henley.

This we learned from one of the many people who emailed the station to demand to know why it had acquiesced to Green’s demands. Freethinker reader Alex  asked us to set the record straight after he received the following reply from Henley:

Following an email campaign, a number of incorrect views about Classic FM’s involvement in this event appear to have gathered momentum in the online community and I hope that you will allow me to take this opportunity to correct them:

1.    Classic FM broadcast an advertising campaign for this event which ran from last Wednesday until last weekend. The station also ran a competition to win tickets to the event on the station’s website which also ended last weekend. No further advertising activity was booked to run either on-air or online after the weekend.

2.    At no point did Classic FM ever intend to broadcast this event on air, nor did it ever enter into any negotiations to broadcast the event on air, so any assertion that any programme content has been withdrawn from broadcast is simply incorrect.

3.    Classic FM has never been a financial supporter of this event and nor was it ever the promoter of the live event – and that relationship has in no way changed over the past week.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to correct these misconceptions.

We apologise to Classic FM for accusing it of capitulating to Christian censorship demands, but would add that the station did itself no favours by not quashing Green’s claims immediately after he made them. We emailed Classic FM yesterday morning to ask whether or not Green was away with the fairies, as he normally is, and gave them a full day to reply. No response was ever received.