PR boss claims it’s ‘ridiculous’ to say he’s homophobic or antisemitic after being recorded saying he ‘doesn’t like gays or Jews’
Paul Blanchard, head of PR firm Right Angles. (Instagram)
After interviewing Will Young, the head of a major British PR firm, Paul Blanchard, said he doesn’t “like gay people and Jews”, according to recordings and internal office correspondences seen by PinkNews.
Blanchard, a guru to many high-profile company heads, celebrities and lawmakers, interviewed the gay singer as part of his Media Masters podcast series uploaded on 11 April, 2019.
In a recording shared to PinkNews by a former employee, who wished to remain anonymous, Blanchard discusses the episode with colleagues where he makes barbed jokes about Young’s sexuality.
The ex-staffer told PinkNews that workers felt they “had to laugh along” with Blanchard’s banter.
Moreover, screenshots of Slack messages show Blanchard made crude sexist remarks on at least two occasions as well as hurling antisemitic jibes.
The Right Angles boss, 45, denied any “wrongdoing” in a statement issued to the MailOnline Tuesday morning (28 July). He claimed his comments were “ironic” and “scripted” by a member of the production team who, he said, is gay and Jewish.
Overall, Blanchard sought to stress that any allegations leveed at him of being homophobic or antisemitism are “ridiculous”. He also asserted that the recordings were swiped from the company server and leaked by a “disgruntled” former member of staff.
PR guru: ‘Apparently, gays give the best blowies, but I wouldn’t know.’
During a discussion with colleagues about website copy, Blanchard said in the recording: “From Pop Idol to podcaster and 25 years of hot anal in-between.
A staffer then noted, “that’ll go down well with our American audience,” to which he responds: “Absolutely.
“Apparently, gays give the best blowies,” he continued, “but I wouldn’t know, and do you know what? I’d go to my grave having never known.
“Don’t like gay people… just gay people and Jews.”
PR head Paul Blanchard allegedly made disparaging remarks about gay singer Will Young (L), according to a recording shared to PinkNews. ( Stuart Wilson/Getty Images/Instagram)
In a statement, Blanchard said: “I have a podcast production team who write my scripts and sometimes they write inappropriate and offensive things for me to read aloud when warming up my voice and testing microphone levels before the podcast begins.
“They try and catch me off guard by occasionally asking me as a joke to read these things, and stupidly – and in high spirits – I have occasionally gone along with this.
“The person who wrote this particular script is both gay and Jewish, and wrote this as a humorous ‘dare’. I said it to ‘win’ the dare – not to be homophobic or antisemitic.
“If you hear the recording you can clearly tell I am being ironic, and actually mocking people who hold these views. I obviously don’t hold these views myself, and it is ridiculous to suggest I do.”
Paul Blanchard has been drubbed by backlash in the past for his ‘jokes’, ex-employees say.
His social media, which he has since made private, was jammed with photographs of him tending to his Telsa wearing ill-fitting jeans outside his cavernous Buckinghamshire residence.
Staff accused him of failing to pay them, The Times reported in June, causing the office to bristle with tension.
Former employees, the Byline Times reported, have spoken of a workplace where Blanchard’s sense of humour allegedly takes tinderbox topics and plays with matches.
Screenshots of Slack chat logs seen by PinkNews show Blanchard referring to broadcaster Sky News as “Sky Jews” in 2019 before an interview, while photographs show the author making lewd hand gestures about performing sex acts on women.
On the business communication platform, he also wrote: “The Jews killed Jesus […] That is just a fact.”
