BBC apologises after ‘Manchester United are rubbish’ appears on news ticker

Sunday, May 29, 2022

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) apologised Tuesday after the phrase “Manchester United are rubbish”, in reference to the Manchester-based football club, appeared on a BBC News ticker.

News at Nine presenter Annita McVeigh explained the statement, which was shown during a tennis update on the 9am to 10am broadcast, was published due to “someone [..] training to learn how to use the ticker and to put text on the ticker, so they were just writing random things, not in earnest, and that comment appeared”. She added “apologies if you saw that and you were offended and you’re a fan of Manchester United”. A statement from the BBC confirmed “there was a technical glitch during training with our test ticker, which rolled over to live programming for a few seconds. We apologised for any offence caused on air”.

Clive Myrie, another BBC presenter and fan of rival club Manchester City, tweeted after the ticker appeared: “I had nothing to do with this!!”

Manchester City won the English Premier League on Sunday, with Manchester United finishing sixth and recording their lowest points in their Premier League history. Erik ten Hag was announced as the new Manchester United manager on Monday.

Sources

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