Jermaine Jenas appeared on Good Morning Britain for his first TV interview since being sacked by the BBC
The 43-year-old ex-footballer appeared on the ITV programme on Friday (June 12) for his first TV interview since being sacked by the BBC.
The ex-Match of the Day regular was sacked by the broadcaster almost two years ago after allegations were made that he “sent unsolicited texts” to a female staff member at The One Show, which he co-presented from 2020 to 2024. It was subsequently reported that “multiple women” had come forward about explicit messages he sent to colleagues.
Jermaine Jenas appeared on GMB(Image: ITV)
Jermaine was interviewed by hosts Ranvir Singh and Kate Garraway as he broke his silence. During the conversation, he said: “I’d reached a point recently where there was a lot of uncertainty in my life, a lot of fear in terms of the direction, in terms of where it was going.
“It’s been a tough two-year period, in particular [for] my family… I got to this point where I was like, ‘I feel like I need to start speaking.’”
Ranvir Singh and Kate Garraway hosted the ITV programme(Image: ITV)
He went on to admit: “I’ve lost everything, essentially. My job, my family, everything was kind of taken away from me. And that’s not for me to decide the punishment, but that’s exactly what happened – it’s what I had to face.”
Jermaine also noted that he focused his attention on protecting his family in the face of criticism, with Ranvir then saying: “I notice you don’t mention the women who you were texting, and who accused you of sending unsolicited, perhaps even videos or text messages, that they did not want, and did not expect from you. Do you have an apology to them?”
Jermaine replied: “I’ve always apologised. I don’t think that’s something I’ve never done. I’ve always apologised to everybody that was involved in it, whether it was the women who I was messaging and who were messaging me…
“I wasn’t given the opportunity to sit in front of anybody and really apologise to anybody, and that’s fine. There’s a duty of care around the situation.”
Ranvir grilled the ex-footballer(Image: ITV)
Ranvir then asked: “But do you recognise that you were in the wrong?” with Jermaine saying: “100 per cent,” before adding: “It was something I shouldn’t have been doing, but also, this was a marital thing more than anything, I need to apologise to my wife.”
Later in the interview, Ranvir said: “You’re sort of skirting around what you’ve learned, but you’ve mentioned about the fact that you [were] in a position of power. And that for some reason, you thought this was consensual, but clearly these women did not want to receive what you were sending them,” with Jermaine quickly interjecting.
“I’m not skirting around anything, Ranvir. I’m more than happy to have the conversation, which is why I’m here. I’m not here to be defending myself in any way, shape or form,” he said.
“I know what I did was wrong and accept the punishments, so nobody’s skirting around the responsibility of what I did. I know what I did and I know what I did was wrong, so I don’t understand where [this] line of questioning’s coming from.”
Jermaine was sacked by the BBC two years ago(Image: PA)
After Ranvir asked Jermaine to share advice with other men in positions of power, the ex-footballer said: “I’m not here to dictate to people… I understand why you have to come up with this line of questioning, and it’s completely fine. And if you feel like I’ve not been punished enough, then go ahead and keep going.”
Ranvir confirmed: “No, no, I’m not saying that. I just find it’s interesting,” with Jermaine quickly adding: “But you’ve accused me of skirting around the issue. I’m not skirting around the issue.”
At the end of the interview, the hosts shared a statement from a BBC spokesperson: “We do not comment on individuals, but we will always look at any issues raised with us and take the action as appropriate.”
