tnc.news True North has learned that 50-year radio professional Peter Shurman, who filled in as a talk show host at 640 Toronto for five years, was told last week he was being cancelled over a bizarre incident that occurred on Sept. 24.
He was apparently given no rationale for the axing.
Shurman was filling in on the drive-time show when lesbian activist Farrah Khan came on to speak about how Smart Serve Ontarioâs training program will now include training to recognize sexual violence and drug-induced sexual assault.
Khan is married to far-left councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam.
Prior to the interview, Shurman spoke of a naĂŻve young family member who stayed with him a few years back and who he had to caution about being careful when she endeavored to meet strangers in bars.
He mentioned the potential to âwind up in troubleâ when one orders a drink and leaves it sitting on the bar while going to the washroom.
Itâs the kind of advice I wish Iâd had before I naively allowed in a stranger interested in subletting my apartment while a student in Ottawa in 1978 â a stranger who beat me, tried to strangle me and left me near dead.
Khan, the manager of Ryerson Universityâs office of sexual violence, barely answered his first question, before proceeding to lambaste Shurman on air.
âThe person that is responsible for sexual violence is the person that is committing the sexual violence ⊠this is a kind of naming and shaming,â she said, in an attempt to talk over Shurman.
When Shurman attempted to explain what he meant, Khan hung up, insisting she hadnât been respected.
The entire segment lasted barely 3.5 minutes.
Immediately after, Khan took to Twitter in what appeared a campaign to shame Shurman:
Shaking with rage after being on an awful radio show where the host thought it was okay to open up the conversation about alcohol facilitated sexual assault by blaming women for the harm they are subjected to. When I called him in, I was spoken down to and talked over. A mess.
— Farrah Khan (@farrahsafiakhan) September 24, 2021
The Twitter lynch mob attacked almost immediately â praising Khan for standing up to a misogynist. The responses included this tweet alluding to possible violent retribution from someone who identified as Khanâs uncle:
Let your uncle know the name in DM. We can handle it the old way since he wonât change his old ways. #familyfirst
— mohmoney (@mohmoney2) September 24, 2021
The following Friday 640 Toronto morning talk show host Greg Brady had Khan on his show to apologize.
He claimed Shurman reacted in an âadversarial wayâ to Khan.
âUnfortunately our guest just wasnât treated with the deference she should have been,â Brady said, choosing not to say that Khan would not allow Shurman to explain himself.
He said the incident moved to social media which âmade the matter worseâ â choosing not to mention the fact that Khan and her followers allowed things to escalate and that Shurman stayed silent.
Brady alleged that as a result, Khan was subject to ârape threatsâ and an âoutpouring of hateâ towards her and her family â not asking her to provide proof.
âWe apologize as a station⊠weâre very sorry that this occurred,â he said.
Immediately following the interview, Khan took to Twitter again:
This morning @am640 publicly apologized for the unprofessional and harmful way host Peter Shurman treated me during an interview about alcohol facilitated sexual assault and the new SmartServe training last Friday. A thread on what happened and the impact. #MeToo
— Farrah Khan (@farrahsafiakhan) October 1, 2021
Contacted for comment, Shurman said that as a lifelong radio pro and champion of sexual equality, he is âdevastated.â
He refused to comment further as heâs in the process of looking into legal avenues available to him.
Efforts to get a statement from 640 Toronto were unsuccessful.
Khan, seemingly unfazed by the fallout of her Twitter campaign, indicated that while she was âdisappointedâ with the first interview, she was âgladâ the station offered her the chance to come back to help listeners âshape understandings about sexual violence.â
She said Mr. Shurmanâs employment status with AM 640 is a âmatter between him and his employer.â
Khan says she never requested that he be fired, only for an âapologyâ and better training on sexual violence be put in place at the station.
