BBC Radio Presenter Greg James Apologizes For “Disgusting” Glass Eye Comment In Video

deadline.com:

One of the BBC’s highest profile radio presenters has apologized for comments about people with glass eyes in a recent video to promote his new children’s book.

Greg James, who presents BBC Radio One’s flagship breakfast show, and former newsreader Chris Smith appeared in a video to promote The Twits Next Door, their co-written book inspired by Roald Dahl’s famous characters The Twits.

Viewers watched them discuss how to make their fictional characters “more revolting… really gross and horrible.” The BBC reports that when illustrator Emily Jones suggested giving characters a glass eye, Smith responded: “That’s it.

What a disgusting pair of Twits.” After the video appeared, criticism of the pair included a statement from The Royal National Institute of Blind People, which the BBC quotes as saying: “When there’s positive representation of disabilities in children’s books, children with disabilities feel seen and heard, and their friends and classmates treat everyone the same. “There is nothing at all revolting about prosthetic eyes, we think they’re brilliant.” James later posted on X (formerly Twitter) his regret at the comment, writing: “We are so sorry to have caused offence with the launch video.