A profile of Watson in the Sunday Times Magazine of London quoted him saying that he is "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really."
While he hopes everyone is equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true," Watson is quoted. He also said people should not be discriminated against on the basis of color, because "there are many people of color who are very talented."
The comments, reprinted Wednesday in a front-page article in another British newspaper, The Independent, provoked a sharp reaction. London's Science Museum canceled a sold-out lecture he was to give today. The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said his comments "represent racist propaganda masquerading as scientific fact. . . . That a man of such academic distinction could make such ignorant comments, which are utterly offensive and incorrect and give succor to the most backward in our society, demonstrates why racism still has to be fought."
In the United States, the Federation of American Scientists said it was outraged that Watson "chose to use his unique stature to promote personal prejudices that are racist, vicious and unsupported by science."
Watson's employer said he was not speaking for the Cold Spring Harbor research facility, where the board and administration "vehemently disagree with these statements and are bewildered and saddened if he indeed made such comments."
Watson is in Britain to promote his new book, "Avoid Boring People," and a publicist for his British publisher provided this statement yesterday:
"I am mortified about what has happened," Watson said. "More importantly, I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said.
"I can certainly understand why people, reading those words, have reacted in the ways they have. To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief."
