BBC News has been forced to apologise for reporting that “Manchester United are rubbish” following a mistake behind-the-scenes.
During coverage of the Roland-Garros French Open on Tuesday, the news ticker along the bottom of the screen read: “Manchester United are rubbish."
Following reaction on social media, BBC News was forced to apologise for any offence caused.
TV Critic Scott Bryan shared the error on social media when he asked: “Errrr … What is going on with the BBC News ticker?”
Errrr… what is going on with the BBC News ticker? pic.twitter.com/fofbiGyMfs
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 24, 2022
BBC News forced to apologise for branding Manchester United 'rubbish'
On Tuesday’s show, the BBC offered an explanation as to why the comment appeared.
They said: “While we’re on the subject of football, some of you may have noticed something pretty unusual on the ticker that runs along the bottom of the screen with news, making a comment about Manchester United.
“I hope Manchester United fans weren’t offended by it, let me just explain what was happening.
“Behind the scenes, someone was training to learn how to use the ticker and put text on the ticker, so they were just writing random things not in earnest and that comment appeared.
“Apologies if you saw that and you were offended and you are a fan of Manchester United but certainly that was a mistake and it wasn’t supposed to appear on the screen so, that was what happened, we just thought we better explain that to you.”
UPDATE: BBC News have apologised.
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 24, 2022
They say that a trainee was learning how to write text for the ticker and accidentally published them onto the BBC News Channel. pic.twitter.com/OkjPIkJAoo
In a thread Scott Bryan said: “I really hope the trainee doesn’t feel too bad.
“Because honestly that mistake was actually legendary and we all salute you.”
Although moments later another apparent mistake seemed to appear saying: “Weather rain everywhere,” which was shared by Scott Bryan who joked: “To be honest, they ain’t lying.”
To be honest, they ain’t lying pic.twitter.com/RMkCLuNSls
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 24, 2022
BBC viewers react to Manchester United error
The error did not go unnoticed as people headed to social media to joke about the situations.
One social media user said: “Poor trainee must be mortified! Imagine if that's their first day...”
Another added: “That would've been the perfect opportunity to have "Woops, sorry!" show up on the ticker. C'mon BBC at least have a bit of fun with it.”
“Brilliant. Give said trainee a permanent job and a pay rise,” joked a third.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel