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LBC drops Ken Livingstone’s radio show following antisemitism row

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By Jessica Goodfellow, Media Reporter

May 29, 2016 | 2 min read

LBC will no longer air Ken Livingstone’s Saturday morning radio show after Livingstone has faced backlash for antisemitic comments claiming Hitler supported Zionism.

Ken Livingstone

The former London mayor will not have his contract with the radio station renewed, ending an eight-year stunt. Livingstone had presented the politics programme with David Mellor, whose contract will also not be renewed.

Livingstone has denied that LBC’s decision not to renew his contract is linked to his recent comments.

Livingstone was taken off air when the EU referendum campaign kicked off in early April due to Ofcom impartiality rules, with political journalist Michael Crick standing in.

An LBC spokesman said Livingstone would not return to his presenting role, despite his annual contract continuing towards the end of July/early August.

“It’s surprising that a capitalist company is doing this. David [Mellor] isn’t happy either,” Livingstone said. “People would stop me on the street and say how much they liked the show.”

Livingstone has faced backlash after a BBC London interview last month, when he said that Hitler had supported Zionism “before he went mad and ended up killing 6 million Jews”.

He also claimed there was a “well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as antisemitic”.

Livingstone stood by his comments yesterday, saying: "No paper or media organisation has shown that what I said was wrong".

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