Beeb ‘sorry’ after Boycott’s live radio rant
THE BBC was yesterday forced to apologise after outspoken cricketing legend Geoffrey Boycott made a foul-mouthed outburst live on the radio.
The 69-year-old commentator was overheard screaming f****** t***er during live coverage of England’s fourth one-day international with South Africa at Port Elizabeth.
Boycott made the comment after Ryan McLaren was caught by Paul Collingwood to become the sixth South African wicket to fall as England dismissed their hosts for 119.
It is unknown who Boycott directed the comment towards, while the Yorkshireman insists he was unaware that his comments were being broadcast at
the time.
A Radio 5 Live spokesman said: “An off-air comment made by Geoffrey Boycott in a live broadcast was heard by some listeners which we apologised for as soon as we realised it had been audible.”
This is the latest in a line of commentators caught out with “off-air” remarks.
In 2004, Ron Atkinson famously lost his job with ITV after using the f-word and the n-word to describe Marcel Desailly’s performance for Chelsea against Monaco, while ex-Australia batsman Dean Jones was rapped for once referring to South Africa’s Muslim batsman Hashim Amla as a “terrorist”.