Jermaine Jenas says his dismissal from the BBC is now in the hands of his lawyers in an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.
Reports of the former midfielder being dismissed from his role with Match of The Day and The One Show by the broadcaster emerged on Thursday.
This was due to allegations of unsolicited text messages being sent to a female member of staff on The One Show.
Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT news in an interview soon after the story broke, Jenas said: “I can’t really talk about it.
“I, as you can probably see, am not happy about it.
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“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 the allegation itself, Jenas said: “Like I said, I’m not happy about this situation.
“I’m going to be speaking to my lawyers about it is all I can say right now.”
Pressed on whether he could elaborate on what the complaints relate to, or whether the complaints involved one person or more, or if he was surprised by the allegations, Jenas stated he was unable to answer currently.
“Like I said, I’m going to speak to my lawyers about this situation,” he said. “I definitely, as you can see by my reaction, I’m not happy at all about the outcome of this.
“But I’ve got to leave it in the hands of the lawyers right now.”
“It’s hard, you know,” he continued. “There’s definitely two sides.”
Asked when he was told by the BBC that he was being sacked, or when he knew a complaint had been made, or if legal proceedings were underway, or if he owes anyone an apology right now, Jenas declined to comment, once again citing he would respond through his lawyers.
“I can’t talk about that right now. I’ve just got to leave this to my team of lawyers at the minute who are I suppose managing the situation,” he said.
“This is tough, you know. But I have to listen to my lawyers.”
Quizzed on whether he sees any reason why he would not be able to continue in the sports presenting industry or in broadcasting, he said: “I can’t talk about that right now.”
When the BBC announced Jenas’ departure, a spokesperson said: “We can confirm that he is no longer part of our presenting line-up.”
Jenas earned 21 England caps during his career and played in the Premier League for Tottenham, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle.
He became a Match of The Day presenter following his retirement from football.
He had been seen as Gary Lineker’s natural successor in the role as MOTD host.
In 2020, Jenas began co-presenting The One Show on BBC One. In 2021 Jenas became one of its permanent hosts.
He last presented The One Show alongside Alex Jones on Wednesday 22 July and last appeared on the Match of the Day panel on 4 May.
Both of those roles have been ended with immediate effect.
News Summary:
- Jermaine Jenas addresses allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ on talkSPORT after dismissal from BBC
- Check all news and articles from the latest Football updates.