Ex-footballer Jermaine Jenas has been sacked from presenting The One Show and in an extraordinary interview has addressed the claims against him while he was presenting a show on talkSPORT radio.
The former Premier League player, 41, has been removed from the BBC One evening programme following an internal investigation by the corporation because of alleged complaints about his behaviour, The Sun has reported.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that he is no longer part of our presenting line-up.”
Jenas has said he is “not happy” about his sacking from the BBC and that there are “two sides to every story” and he will be speaking to his lawyers about it, in an interview with talkSPORT News.
The former footballer said: “Look, I can’t really talk about it. I, as you can probably see, I am not happy about it. But currently, as it stands, I’m going to have to let the lawyers deal with it. You know, there’s two sides to every story, as we know. So that’s all I can say right now.”
Asked about reports that he sent unsolicited texts to a female member of staff at The One Show, he replied: “Like I said, I’m not happy about this situation. You know, I’m going to be speaking to my lawyers about it is all I can say right now.”
Jenas declined to elaborate about what the complaint about him related to, whether it concerned more than one colleague, if he was surprised a complaint was made against him, when he was first aware that a complaint had been made and when the BBC told him he was being sacked.
He also declined to answer when asked if legal proceedings were under way, whether he felt he would be able to continue working in sports presenting, or the industry as a whole, or if he felt he should apologise to anyone about his departure from the BBC.
“I can’t talk about that right now. I’ve just got to leave this to a team of lawyers at the minute who are, yeah, I suppose just managing the situation. This is … Yeah, it’s tough, you know. But I’ve got to listen to my lawyers,” he said.
Audio from the interview has been shared on social media, with one commentator calling it 'extraordinary.'
Another image doing the rounds shows a stunned Jenas appearing to have learned what had happened while he was on live radio.
Jenas moved into football punditry in 2014 following his retirement and began working on The One Show in 2020. During his sporting football career, which began in 2001 he played for Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers. He also won 21 England caps.
Additional reporting by PA.
How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel
Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
Most Popular
Comments / 0