Brand's anger over BBC podcast

The BBC has dropped a regular Russell Brand podcast after the comedian refused to allow them to edit out contentious material.

Corporation bosses wanted to cut from the highlights of his weekly 6 Music show a segment in which disabled basketball player Ade Adepitan alleged nightclub bouncers sneered abuse at him.

The BBC wanted to drop the exchange for legal reasons, but Brand stood firm.

He told The Guardian: ‘I think we could have found a version that could have been released but a lot of the time people simply do what is easiest.

‘I love that podcast and I really want it to work. But in my position you spend so much time talking rubbish. It is not often you get to highlight an issue like this.’

The contentious interview has been available on the BBC's Listen Again feature since Sunday, but the whole show was taken off the website since the story broke this morning.

In the show, Brand, a friend of Adepitan, made a joke of repeatedly mentioning the name of the West End club, Movida, which he described as ‘a bit stuck up’.

The athlete, who featured in the BBC One idents, claimed a doorman called him a ‘fucking cripple’ – an allegation the club strongly denies. They say they have not received an official complaint.

Adepitan said he has frequently visited the club, but this is the first time he  encountered trouble from what Brand called ‘a grunting Neanderthal dragging this country back into the stone age with their prejudice, ignorance and hatred’.

Brand’s podcast is No 2 in the iTunes chart, behind Ricky Gervais.

Published: 9 Aug 2006