Posts

Scottish Government warned about race row comic Janey Godley’s offensive tweets months before hiring her for Covid ads – The Sun

/in , , /by

Please click the image below to read more:

THE Scottish Government hired race row comic Janey Godley for a TV health campaign despite being alerted to offensive tweets about Asian people in June, it has emerged.

Four Twitter posts were flagged up in a complaint three months ago, including two calling for people to “speak English”.

It came after Godley, 60, was booked for an anti-litter push between the Nats administration and the Zero Waste Scotland agency in May.

But the Scottish Government told a woman who complained that “due diligence” checks were carried out on the comedian and pro-indy activist — and that ministers could not “intervene” in her role.

An official added the complainer should contact cops if she had a hate crime to report.

Godley was later paid £12,000 of taxpayer cash to front the “Stop the Spike” Covid ads but was axed when posts about the disabled and black celebs came to light.

Tory MSP Russell Findlay called the latest revelation “staggering”.

He said: “The Scottish Government decided to hand an SNP- supporting comedian a large sum of public cash despite these vile posts being flagged directly with officials.

“This confirms the suspicion that there’s one rule for protected SNP cronies and another for the rest of us.

“Nicola Sturgeon must apologise immediately. Why were racist tweets ignored when awarding a lucrative contract for a crucial public health message in the fight against Covid?”

Labour MSP Foysol Choudhury said the tweets were “deeply troubling”.

But he added: “What raises more serious questions is the government’s response to this. The public deserve answers.”

Janey Godley apologises over ‘deeply hurtful’ tweets as it emerges she’s being paid £12k by taxpayers for Covid campaign – The Sun

/in , /by

Please click the image below to read more:

AN SNP-backing comic has made a grovelling apology over highly offensive tweets as it emerged she’s being paid £12,000 by taxpayers for a Covid social media campaign.

Janey Godley apologised for Twitter jokes using terms with language that mocks disabled people – including “spazzy” – after her lucrative deal with the Scottish Government sparked anger online.

The use of Ms Godley to front a pandemic health push also prompted controversy as she is seen as a “divisive” figure due to being a strident pro-indy political activist who has been involved in multiple online spats.

Critics also pointed to past tweets from Ms Godley where she made jokes using the word “mongo” and used “Chernobyl” repeatedly as an insult.

After her agent was approached by The Scottish Sun about the criticism, Ms Godley issued a statement on Wednesday – also posted online – where she apologised for past comments, but insisted some were faked.

The Scottish Government said Ms Godley was being paid £10,000 plus VAT for her work on a “multi-channel campaign” urging people to “stop the spike”.

In one 30-second ad posted on the Scottish Government’s official Twitter with the hashtag #StopTheSpike, Ms Godley appeals to Scots to do twice-weekly lateral flow tests.

The comedian says: “That’s Covid cases rising again, and we cannae just let this virus run riot like your gran in the supermarket reduced section.

To see how Scotland has changed under the SNP, click here: https://www.scotlandmatters.co.uk/category/scotland-under-the-snp/