FOOTBALL pundit Michael Stewart continued to be dropped from BBC Scotland flagship football show Sportscene as talks continued over his rant about Rangers communications chief Jim Traynor.
It emerged on Thursday that the former Scotland international was dropped from all BBC sports shows as the row over his radio comments about Mr Traynor continued.
It had been speculated that Mr Stewart would only be dropped for a matter of days after the furore over his part in a discussion over Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos on Radio Scotland's Sportsound show on Monday.
But Mr Stewart continued to be swapped for former Scotland international James McFadden on Sportscene last night and it is thought he will not return for Monday night's Sportsound broadcast - a week after his outburst.
Last night Sportscene presenter Jonathan Sutherland was joined by Mr McFadden and Steven Thompson for the highlights of the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.
BBC Scotland broke its silence over Mr Stewart's disappearance on Thursday by saying: "Our editorial guidelines were not adhered to on Sportsound on Monday and we’re still in discussions to ensure there’s no repeat of that in future. While those discussions continue, Michael Stewart will not appear on any of our sports programmes."
The public broadcaster on Sunday would not give a timescale as to when or if the ex-footballer will return to duties at the BBC.
Former Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan is amongst those who have signed a petition calling for the reinstatement of Mr Stewart which has so far received more than 12,000 signatures.
The BBC issued an apology over Mr Stewart's comments on Tuesday, with presenter Kenny McIntyre saying : "Before we get to tonight's topics we apologise to James Traynor for the discussion on Sportsound last night.
"It was not fair and balanced and he did not have the opportunity to respond.
"On this occasion we did not adhere to our editorial values and standards and we have reminded those concerned of their responsibility to follow our guidelines while working for the BBC."
The row came after a discussion about an Alfredo Morelos interview, aired earlier in the day by Sky Sports, in which the Colombian striker said he had been subject to racial abuse "on and off the pitch" since moving to Scotland three years ago.
Earlier in the week, a man was charged with breach of the peace after allegedly tampering with the £20million-rated footballer's car.
A newspaper report last Sunday then claimed that the man - who had been found lurking next to the £150,000 motor - was a private investigator hired by his wife.
Mr Stewart alleged the interview for Sky Sports with Mr Morelos in which he reportedly made allegations he had been racially abused in Scotland was staged to deflect from the impact of the story.
He went on to make accusations about Mr Traynor.
Mr Stewart also spoke about Mr Morelos' reported claims that he had been racially abused in Scotland in the Sky Sports interview and questioned the evidence.
Celtic have lodged an official complaint with TV watchdog Ofcom after Alfredo Morelos' mis-translated interview on Sky Sports.
Sky later issued an apology to Celtic and pulled the interview from their channel and social media platforms.
READ MORE: Over 11,000 sign petition calling for BBC to reinstate Michael Stewart
But Celtic said the response to their complaint was "inadequate" and have lodged an official complaint with TV watchdog Ofcom after Alfredo Morelos' mis-translated interview.
Mr Stewart's only public comment about the affair came on Tuesday, a day after the row erupted, when he tweeted: "Impossible to thank everyone who has been in touch today, it’s been incredible the variety of people who’ve been in contact, but I appreciate every word of support and encouragement. I’ll keep saying it as I see it."
He tweeted a version in Spanish.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel