The BBC presenter was yesterday accused of trivialising the horrific attack and acting in ‘poor taste’, after he set up an online poll that encouraged people to guess the profession of the jogger.
Yet he only gave three options for the unidentified man’s job, all of which were from the financial sector, prompting criticism that he was being ‘prejudicial’, fuelling stereotypes and should remain ‘neutral’. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen described Vine’s tweet, which has since been deleted, as a ‘huge lack of judgment’, adding that he should not have used the Putney Bridge attack to start a ‘class war’.
Vine, who is on holiday from his Radio 2 lunchtime show, also faced criticism from his followers on social media who said the poll was ‘bad taste at best’, ‘very insulting’ and was not a suitable subject to approach with ‘frivolity’.
Police have launched an appeal to trace the attacker, who was caught on CCTV pushing a woman off the pavement of Putney Bridge into the path of a bus.
The 33-year-old woman had been on her way to work at the time of the attack, which took place on Putney Bridge in May, and only narrowly avoided being hit by the bus because the driver swerved out of the way.
Vine deleted the tweet after it had been online for four hours yesterday afternoon, but not before it had attracted over 100 comments and more than 1,000 votes. Bridgen told the Daily Mail: ‘I bet the attacker doesn’t earn as much as Jeremy Vine. The licence-fee payer would expect better from someone costing them around £15,000 a week.
‘That vicious and irresponsible attack, if it hadn’t been for the bus driver’s very quick actions, it is highly likely that woman would have either been severely injured or killed. If that bus had hit her head, that would have killed her. ‘It is not a matter to embark on a sort of class war, especially when you are earning £750,000-a-year.’
One of Vine’s __ followers on Twitter wrote: ‘A very insulting tweet to those in such professions, not all of whom will be consumed with their own self-righteousness, unlike yourself.’
Another commented: ‘If there is any attempt at irony in this bizarre tweet, it fails badly. It wouldn’t surprise (or disappoint) me if it got you sacked.’
A third wrote: ‘Or let’s guess his nationality, or religion?!?! Just as pointless, prejudicial & inflammatory.’
Last night, police said that the appeal had prompted a ‘huge response’ from the public since releasing the video on Tuesday.
Sgt Mat Knowles, of the Met Police, said his team was now following a number of ‘viable leads’ in their search for the jogger.
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