Nicky Campbell, 62, has hit out at the outpouring of gushing tributes towards pal and fellow BBC broadcaster Steve Wright following his death on February 12.
Wright's death was branded "unexpected" but was never treated as "suspicious" by police after they were called to his London flat.
Famous faces from the world of broadcasting were quick to share statements in Wright's memory as they remembered the long-serving voice of BBC Radio 2.
However, while Campbell shared a personal tribute of his own to Wright at the time, the outpouring has left him less than impressed.
Campbell had described Wright as "born to be in the studio" before he added to Radio 4's Today back in February: "His heart soared when he was on the air, and that was contagious."
But in a new interview, Campbell has said some of the tributes paid to Wright were "dehumanising".
Nicky Campbell has taken aim at the tributes for Steve Wright
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Referring to Wright's death, Campbell said: "What kind of irks me, and I've got this from other people I've known who I felt were fantastic people and who have died...
"All of a sudden everyone in a sense dehumanises them and says, 'Oh, they were perfect in every way, they floated across the water', and all that stuff.'
"It dehumanises them," he continued to Gabby Logan on her podcast, The Mid.Point.
"I feel like saying, 'No. Steve was complex. He could be brittle and anxious'."
WATCH HERE: BBC blasted for just 'dumping' Steve Wright by Liz Kershaw
Logan swiftly moved the conversation on during their chat.
Campbell had also said that Wright was a "great person" and "really likeable" earlier in the podcast.
Campbell isn't the only public figure to have issued a blistering take on the tributes paid to Wright, with former BBC employee Liz Kershaw blasting the corporation for its reaction to the DJ's death.
Wright had left his post at Radio 2 just a few years before his death as part of a reshuffle and Kershaw appeared on GB News to slam the Beeb's treatment of the legendary broadcaster.
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Steve Wright died in February this year
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"Well, it makes me feel sick," Kershaw said to Eamonn Holmes and Ellie Costello in reference to the BBC's tributes. "It’s shabby, it's hypocritical. They just dumped him.
"New management said we’re going to refresh the schedule - and they treat people like tins of beans on a shelf. I doubt that there was any follow-up, or any pastoral care, or any support for him. He didn't need money as he has been one of the highest-paid people on air.
"But, you know, I wonder if they considered how it affected him. There are some people for whom fame and attention are their oxygen. And he was one of those; it was absolutely his life.
"Steve was so focused and driven and it's their life, that is who they are, and to take it away from somebody and then come back months later and say, 'We will miss Steve, he was such a professional, he was brilliant, he was the best.' I just don't know how they can say that."
