Ross pulls out of Comedy Awards

by Baz Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:54 am

Jonathan Ross has stepped down from presenting the 2008 British Comedy Awards, ITV1 has announced.

The broadcaster said it backed the presenter's decision in the wake of the Radio 2 row concerning prank calls made to Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs.

Ross, 47, has been suspended from all BBC programmes for 12 weeks without pay as a result of the calls, which were made on Russell Brand's Radio 2 show.

The British Comedy Awards are set to take place on 6 December.

The ceremony is expected to go ahead, though no decision has been made over who will replace him.

It had been reported that Ross would receive at least £100,000 for presenting the ceremony.

A spokesman for the entertainer said the British Comedy Awards was "a show he very much enjoys being part of."

However, he added, Ross did "not want his participation in this year's event to take away from the awards themselves or the many talented winners".

Peter Fincham, ITV's director of television, said his decision had been made "with the full support of ITV and the show's producers".

Last year's ceremony was not shown on TV following a phone-in irregularity which was uncovered on the 2005 show.

Original article here