He added: "I don’t think that discrimination of any kind is ever positive, however well intentioned everyone thinks they are, because someone is always going to lose out based on something they can’t help.

"Personally I want equal opportunities for all, irrespective of who or what they are. So maybe we should open up the debate."

Holmes has won two Baftas, eight Sony awards and two British Comedy awards. He co-created Radio 4’s Dead Ringers, which later transferred to BBC Two, and has been a co-writer of the Horrible Histories series for CBBC.

He revealed in the newspaper how colleagues had contacted him and shared similar experiences, including one woman who was offered a job and later had it withdrawn for being "too white and middle class".

It comes as the BBC's new diversity targets aim to ensure that women will make up half of its staff by 2020 and the number of black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds will increase to 15 per cent.

A BBC spokesperson said: “While the Government's new charter for the BBC does set us diversity targets, we always hire presenters on merit.

“We’d like to thank Jon Holmes for his contribution, but our comedy shows are constantly evolving and it was simply time to create opportunities for new regulars when The Now Show returns this autumn."