Pope Francis appears on the website of gay right magazine The Advocate
Pope Francis appears on the website of gay rights magazine The Advocate in this December 17, 2013 handout. REUTERS
Pope Francis appears on the website of gay rights magazine The Advocate in this December 17, 2013 handout.

The Edge 102.1, a radio station based in Toronto, has announced that the Dean Blundell Show is taken off air with effect from Jan 6, 2014. The decision of the cancellation of the show was expected as the show was already suspended indefinitely due to numerous complaints against the show. It all started in December 2013 when Dean Blundell made anti-gay comments on the show.

Mr Blundell apparently made a blunder by making offensive comments about homosexuals involved in one criminal trial that had him as the jury foreman. He, along with other members from his team, was heard making fun of a convicted man after he got imprisoned for sexually abusing three men. It was said that the man would actually relish his imprisonment.

Additionally, Mr Blundell's team made fun of men who go to gay saunas and the male victims of the crime committed. Mr Blundell, as the jury foreman, had to take an oath that he did not possess any prejudice against homosexual people since the case involved such issues.

Corus Radio issued a statement on its Web site that The Dean Blundell Show was cancelled as the radio station would now focus more on music-based shows to showcase the best of modern rock. It claimed that the changed would take the radio station to a "new direction in 2014".

The Dean Blundell Show had been quite a popular shock-jock morning show in Toronto for 13 years until it started getting repeatedly criticised for being discriminatory and homophobic. The most recent instances took place in August 2013. An article published on Toronto Star in the earlier part of December exposed the homophobic commentary regarding the sexual assault case. It led to the indefinite suspension of the show.

Mr Blundell expressed his gratitude to the followers of the show earlier on Twitter. He wrote that the last 13 years had been the "greatest time" of his life.

Truly love you all. The last 13 years been the greatest time of my life. #thankful for all of you. #wherestheremote

— Dean Blundell (@ItsDeanBlundell) January 6, 2014