UK Sun tabloid drops provocateur Kelvin MacKenzie’s column, as Murdoch cleans house

Britain’s top-selling newspaper the Sun has turned a page in its colourful history by dropping provocative columnist Kelvin MacKenzie, a favourite of owner Rupert Murdoch, over an article that likened a soccer player to a gorilla.

MacKenzie had been suspended on April 15 over the column, which was widely criticised as racist, and on Monday Murdoch’s British newspaper business said his contract had been terminated by mutual consent.

As editor of the Sun from 1981 to 1994, when it was at its commercial peak, MacKenzie ran memorable front pages that were seen as fun and straight-talking by admirers, but jingoistic and crass by critics.

The sinking of an Argentine warship during the 1982 Falklands War was reported under the headline “GOTCHA”, while the then president of the European Commission Jacques Delors was attacked in 1990 with the words “UP YOURS DELORS”.

MacKenzie was also at the helm when the Sun claimed credit for the surprise Conservative victory in the 1992 election by stating “IT’S THE SUN WOT WON IT”.

David Yelland, one of his successors as editor of the paper, said the move was a sign of cultural change at the tabloid newspaper, which had previously stood by MacKenzie through countless controversies.

“It’s a cultural crossroads for the company. He’s a very difficult editor but a very brilliant, talented editor,” said Yelland, who has left journalism. “It will have been very difficult for Rupert Murdoch.”