Stop calling me Jeremy C***! Jeremy Hunt tells presenters to ‘grow up’ after series of on-air gaffes
- The Foreign Secretary said presenters should ‘grow up’ after a series of slip-ups
- He said he had been called it at school adding that people should ‘get over it’
- On Tuesday Victoria Derbyshire misspoke his surname, joining a growing list of news presenters and politicians to have done so
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has told broadcasters to ‘grow up’ and stop mistakenly mispronouncing his surname as an extremely offensive word.
On Tuesday Victoria Derbyshire apologised immediately and profusely after making the mistake live on air,
She follows high profile presenters and politicians to have made the mistake including James Naughtie, Nicky Campbell and Harriet Harman.
Today Mr Hunt told the Daily Telegraph that broadcasters should ‘grow up’ and stop it. He said: ‘I’m used to it. I had this when I was at school.
‘Personally I think people should just grow up and get over the fact that my last name rhymes with a rather unpleasant word.’
‘Personally I think people should just grow up and get over the fact’ Mr Hunt said today
On Tuesday BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire today became the latest media figure to blunder by pronouncing the surname of the Tory leadership hopeful as ‘C***’.
She made the error during an exchange on her weekday news and current affairs programme during a four-way debate over who should be the next Tory leader.
Derbyshire, 50, said on the programme on BBC Two this morning that she was especially embarrassed because it was usually men who made the mistake, saying ‘it’s usually men who say that’.
Derbyshire later insisted she was not saying ‘men generally go around saying the word’
She later clarified on Twitter that she meant it had largely been male broadcasters who had made the slip in the past.
Addressing Conservative MP Steve Brine, she said: ‘You say the man you are backing, Jeremy C*** … I’m so sorry, Jeremy Hunt.
‘I’ve never said that before in my life. It’s normally men who say that so I really, really want to apologise.’
The BBC’s subtitle service managed to avoid further embarrassment by substituting the word with ‘EXPLETIVE’.
Derbyshire later tweeted: ‘Apologies again and I meant it’s been mostly men on air, male broadcasters, who have ended up getting his name wrong.
A string of interviewers have previously made the same slip up, including Andrew Marr (pictured)
Last week Nicky Campbell (left) mispronounced the Foreign Secretary’s (right) name before apologising the listeners and promising to ‘proceed with care’
The BBC’s former China Editor Carrie Gracie, (pictured) made the same mistake as she read the bulletins on News 24
Justin Webb (left) made a similar embarrassing error while reading out a newspaper story about the Health Secretary on on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme. James Naughtie (right) has also made the slip-up
‘Am not saying men generally go around saying the word! That’s what was in my head – appreciate it didn’t come out like that. Sorry again.’
Women presenters who have previously made the error live on air include BBC News presenter Carrie Gracie on the BBC News Channel in January.
And in 2012, Harriet Harman, who was then the deputy leader of the Labour Party, also made the slip up on the BBC programme Question Time.
It is not the first time a BBC presenter has been embarrassed by the Foreign Secretary’s name – with two of the most famous ones happening on BBC Radio 4.
James Naughtie made the error in 2010 when Mr Hunt was culture secretary, and Justin Webb tripped up last June when he was health and social care secretary.
Other journalists who have made the error in the past include Sky News correspondent Jon Craig, and Andrew Marr on Radio 4.
Just last week, BBC Radio 5 Live host Nicky Campbell did the same thing.