Ulrika Jonsson has slammed James Jordan for “talking out of his behind.”
Earlier this week, the 45-year-old former Strictly Come Dancing pro stated that if TV executives continue to ‘check boxes,’ there will be “no white, heterosexual guys on our televisions anymore.”
He also demanded an end to all female presenting duos, such as Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who hosted the reality dancing show on which he starred from 2006 to 2013.
Clearly enraged by the remarks, Ulrika, 55, has stated unequivocally that she does not back James’ calls.
In a recent essay, she branded James a “gobby,” then went on to say that what he said was “bonkers, disrespectful, and uneducated.”
‘Unless James Jordan has been sleeping under a rock for the past 40 years, the showbiz industry has never been a level playing field,’ she began.
‘Is that the sound of some casual sexism, racism and homophobia knocking on the door?
‘Poor lamb, it must be so terrifying to be a straight, white man in a world surrounded, and ruled, by . . . straight white men,’ she continued in her The Sun column.
Ulrika went on to share that, ‘as a white woman’, she had to endure ‘decades and decades of watching straight, white men snatch TV jobs from under my nose’ simply because of her gender.
She added: ‘I also grew up in the showbiz world which historically, has rarely given space or platforms for people of colour.’
Referencing James’ comments about two women hosting together, Ulrika continued: ‘I beg your puddin’, mate? Are you saying that we’re now done with equality, diversity and inclusion?’
‘I’m not sure on behalf of what authority James Jordan claims to speak but it does all appear to be coming out of his backside,’ she added.
While she was opposed to quotas, Ulrika speculated that James had been living under a rock “for the past 40 years” because there had not been a fair playing field for a long time.
‘Women haven’t historically been given a seat at the table and have been seen as the weaker sex,’ she wrote.
‘I’m not sure why he felt the need to qualify his ridiculous remarks by drawing attention to “heterosexual” men.
‘Could it be that James Jordan feels threatened by groups who haven’t, until recently, been given the opportunities and platforms to prove their worth?’
While pointing out progress had been made in the TV industry in recent years, Ulrika said there was still a long way to go, but encouraged ‘James Caveman Jordan’ to ‘get back under your rock’ and concluded her column by saying that no-one wanted his opinion on the matter again.
When he made other contentious statements earlier this year, James provoked a wave of popular outrage.
When challenged about a prior statement he made about his wife Ola, 40, James stated that he loved her when she was’smaller’.
When he appeared on Lorraine in January, James admitted that he liked his wife to be “thinner because she’s happy thinner.”
Source My Celebrity Life.