Fired BBC Presenter Jermaine Jenas Admits Sending Inappropriate Messages; Says He’s “No Sex Pest”

The BBC presenter fired this week has broken his silence to admit he sent “inappropriate messages” to two colleagues. 

Former footballer Jermaine Jenas gave an interview to The Sun in which he said he was “ashamed” and “had let everybody down.”

He revealed he had sent messages to two female colleagues on the BBC’s daily evening magazine TV program The One Show, but said he done nothing illegal, that the messages were sent to “two consenting adults,” and that he was “not a sex pest.”

Following previous incidents in which the BBC had been criticised for not acting swiftly enough in dealing with claims made against some of their high-profile faces, the broadcaster terminated Jenas’s contract on Thursday, several weeks after the allegations came to light. No further details of Jenas’s departure have been revealed. 

In the interview Jenas added: 

Prior to his firing, Jenas was also a pundit on the BBC’s long-running football show Match of the Day, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this week. He had been tipped to replace longtime host Gary Lineker at some point in the future.