James O’Brien trolled (his LBC colleague) Nigel Farage and it’s gripping stuff
LBC presenter James O’Brien is known for speaking his mind – it’s why he decided to stop working for the BBC so he could share his opinions about Brexit – but this is something else.
O’Brien spoke out after Farage interviewed millionaire businessman and Leave.EU co-founder Arron Banks over claims that he had multiple meetings with Russian embassy officials in the run-up to the Brexit vote.
One of the chief cheerleaders of the leave campaign was of course Nigel Farage, so it wasn’t the most vigorous of interviews as you can imagine.
And this is what happened when Carole Cadwalladr, a proper journalist, rang the show to ask Banks – and presumably Farage – some proper questions.
Carole Cadwalla cut off by Nigel Farage when calling into his radio show on LBC following his interview with Arron Banks & Andy Wigmore @carolecadwalla pic.twitter.com/lTVnHzKq1a
— ℝ (@icklepickle) June 11, 2018
So, new pal Liz just phoned @Nigel_Farage for me….and got through! CAR CRASH!!! Nigel panicked and said “I’m not taking questions from Carole from the Guardian” and then hung up on me. SAD!
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) June 11, 2018
Didn’t reflect too well on LBC – will be interesting to see what the media regulator Ofcom makes of the whole thing – and O’Brien was today putting as much distance between himself and Farage as possible.
And not only Farage, it turned out.
And here are a few of the replies to O’Brien that the presenter retweeted.
Looked so guilty after he absolutely caved there. He doesn’t like being on the other side, classic cowardice from a bully. LBC have some answering to do as to why Carole had to go to these lengths to ask a question
— Rohan (@Chops8592) June 11, 2018
LBC have some answering to do in hiring him in the first place.
— Martin K (@MrMKimber) June 11, 2018
. @mrjamesob increasingly sending for, and dismantling his LBC ‘colleague’ @Nigel_Farage is warming my soul
TAKE HIM OUT JAMES
— Morgan Jones / Codebreaker (@MorganJonesLDN) June 11, 2018
And this, presumably, is the straw wot broke the camel’s back.
"I've not met the Russian Ambassador" –@Nigel_Farage (14:50)
Then what is this?https://t.co/DxVDaRIejb pic.twitter.com/XhSu5x0vke— Scott Stedman (indefinite hiatus) (@ScottMStedman) June 11, 2018
Here’s how other people reacted to the Farage show and his abrupt termination of Cadwalladr’s call.
LBC giving Nigel Farage, Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore 25 minutes of totally unchallenged airtime to clear their own campaign of any wrongdoing on Brexit and Russia has to be a new low in British broadcasting.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) June 11, 2018
I would listen to @Nigel_Farage on LBC but I once saw a goose scream at its own arse after shitting itself and that's pretty much the same thing.
— TechnicallyRon (On all the platforms) (@TechnicallyRon) June 11, 2018