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Jermaine Jenas has been sacked by the BBC following complaints of ‘inappropriate behaviour’.
The former England star, 41, who had been tipped to one day replace Gary Linekar as host of MOTD, has been dropped from presenting the flagship football programme, as well as the One Show, after an investigation by the BBC into alleged complaints about his behaviour, according to a report in The Sun.
The Match of the Day presenter has hosted a number of flagship programmes for the corporation, and has worked on some of the biggest sporting events, including the 2024 Euros.
“We can confirm that Jermaine Jenas is no longer part of our presenting line up,” a BBC spokesperson said.
In bizarre scenes, Jenas continued to present his show on Talk Sport when the story broke on Thursday afternoon.
The father-of-four has not presented The One Show, where he was made a permanent co-host in 2021 since July, and took a two-week break for the Olympics. Most recently he was on commentary for Ipswich’s return to the Premier League, and their 2-0 defeat against Liverpool on Saturday.
He was paid between £190,000-£194,999 by the BBC in 2022/23, the corporation’s annual report shows.
In September, the former midfielder apologised on X, formerly Twitter, after branding a referee a “complete s***house” during an Arsenal match.
Jenas moved into television punditry early, when he was unable to recover from a knee injury, and has consistently worked across a number of media outlets, as well as the BBC, including TNT Sports. When the news broke about his sacking, Jenas was live-streaming radio for Talksport Drive.
During his playing career, Jenas started his career at Nottingham Forest where he made 29 appearances before moving to Newcastle in 2002.
On Tyneside, he played 110 times, scoring nine goals before switching the north east for north east London and joining Tottenham.
At Spurs, he made 155 appearances, from 2005 until 2013, but injuries affected his career, and he was forced to retire in 2014.
Source: independent.co.uk
