BBC says it has ‘no problem' with James Martin's accent after discrimination claims

The BBC has said it has "no problem" with chef James Martin's accent following claims he missed out on job opportunities because of it.

The Yorkshire-born presenter told the Daily Mail: "I didn't get two jobs from the BBC because of my accent. I can't say what jobs they were, but it was before I moved to ITV. It happened more than two years ago. I know because they told me [it was because of my accent].

"That's not the reason I left, but you'd be wrong if you said they don't discriminate against people because of their accents."

The BBC responded by listing all of the presenting jobs Martin has had.

The statement said: "The BBC has a huge variety of presenters with different accents and from different backgrounds.

"The fact that James presented Saturday Kitchen, Home Comforts, Kitchen Invaders, Stately Suppers, Operation Meet the Street, Operation Hospital Food, Ready Steady Cook, The Box, The Real Italian Job and appeared in numerous others shows for the BBC shows that we have no problem with his accent."

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