LONDON, Jan 5 1995(Reuter) - Dutch brewing giant Heineken was plunged into a racism row on Friday when a top executive said a television show the company was sponsoring had "too many negroes" on it.Heinken has apologised to anti-racist campaigners but one leading black newspaper in Britain said the brewery executive should be sacked and one million pounds ($1.55 million) paid to African charities.
After viewing pilots of a new music and youth culture show for British and continental European television, Justus Kos, an executive in Heineken's sponsorship department said of the audience: "There was too high a proportion of negroes."
News of his fax to the British television company Planet 24, run by pop star and charity campaigner Bob Geldof, prompted an angry reaction from black Labour member of parliament Bernie Grant.
"We would hope that TV programmes would seek to represent a positive image of black people and seek to create change in a racist Europe," he told the Daily Express. "At a time when more and more programmes are being sponsored by multinational companies there must be concern about the amount of pressure they can put on programme makers, especially when racism is involved," he said.
Heineken chief executive Karel Vuursteen has apologised to Grant, in a letter saying: "It should never have been written. I am truly shocked about the content ... since it is totally against everything Heineken stands for.
"Heineken denounces all discrimination and will live up to that. I hope you can accept my sincere apology and can assure you that proper steps will be taken to prevent recurrence."
In a faxed editorial from its London office, The Caribbean News said Kos should be sacked and one million pounds donated to African-owned charities and children's care organisations.
Mocking the beer's slogan in an editorial headed "Heineken reaches the parts other racists don't," it said that if these demands are not met, then a global boycott campaign should be launched against the beer.
The programme is being aired for the first time on Friday evening. As for the fate of Kos, Vuursteen said: "Proper measures will taken to prevent recurrence but it is an internal matter."