Jermaine Jenas slams BBC bosses for not letting him apologise to women at centre of sexting scandal
25 August 2024, 00:15 | Updated: 25 August 2024, 00:24
Jermaine Jenas has slammed BBC bosses for blocking his attempts to apologise to two female colleagues at the centre of his sexting storm.
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The sacked Match of the Day and One Show host told The Sun: “I wasn’t allowed to contact the women at all."
Shaken Jenas, 41, said: “The handling of the situation wasn’t great. It was quick — and hell.
"I don’t think there was a game plan for when they were going to announce they’d fired me."I think different departments were being told different things. I think it’s shocking.”
The now-sacked presenter added: “When it was all unfolding and I knew I was losing my job, I asked HR if I could contact the two women directly and apologise to both of them.
“But because of the legal process, I wasn’t allowed.
“I didn’t get the opportunity to say sorry to them at that particular point when I really wanted to apologise.“I really want to apologise from the bottom of my heart in terms of what I’ve put them through.”
Jenas previously said he was “ashamed” and “let everybody down” after a female colleague raised concerns about unsolicited messages.
He apologised on Friday but strongly denied any criminality. He argued nothing physical ever occurred and said none of the messages sent included sexual pictures or videos.
He has also revealed that his wife of 13 years, model Ellie Penfold, has been left "absolutely raging" over the scandal and that she has kicked him out of their bedroom at the home they share with their children in Hertfordshire.
“We’ve not really spoken properly since,” Jenas told The Sun. “She’s absolutely raging.”
Jenas said he initially lied to his wife after hoping he would only be suspended by the BBC over the scandal.
“I had to tell her by Monday evening because I knew then that I’d been fired.
“I just said: ‘I’ve been sacked from the BBC.’ She said: ‘What for?’ and I said: ‘For sending text messages that weren’t appropriate to two girls.’”
Jenas continued: “Ellie is absolutely raging. She’s human. When I see her now, she is just making sure the children are okay.”
Jenas said he had also had “difficult conversations” with his two eldest children. "They’re obviously of an age where they’re aware of social media. That’s been hard.
“I’ve let everyone down. Even my dog looked at me disappointed.”
The former Tottenham and Newcastle midfielder was tipped by many to succeed Gary Lineker as presenter of the broadcaster's flagship football programme Match Of The Day.
He said he made a "huge error of judgement" and is "deeply sorry" to the women involved, his wife and his children.
He told the paper: “I feel so ashamed. I’ve let everybody down - my colleagues, my friends and, most importantly, I’ve let my family down."
“I am so, so sorry.
“I am sorry for what I have put them through."
Jenas added: “I think it would be fair to say I have a problem. I know I self-sabotage and have a self-destructive streak when it comes to my relationship especially, and I know I need help. And I am getting help.
“I have made a lot of mistakes, and I am asking myself a lot of questions at the moment. I know there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and it will be hard.
“Before any of this became public, I saw my private doctor and after a long discussion, booked in for therapy to try and address these issues, where they stem from, and why I have been doing this and hurting the people I love.
“I’m not proud of what I wrote and what I said. And I do consider it cheating, yes, although nothing physical ever happened.
“This is all on me and I fully accept there is a level of responsibility that needs to be upheld when you’re a member of the BBC.”
Jenas told the newspaper: "These were two consenting adults I was speaking to. With one she made it clear she was interested. I don't want to start going down the 'who pursued who' road, but when people are saying things that are wrong and false information is being spread, I do have to kind of defend my space.
"In that particular instance, there was an adult conversation that took place in a bar in London where that person made it very clear that they had an attraction to me. Yes there was alcohol involved but I take full responsibility.
"I feel people don't know the truth and are forming opinions about me that aren't accurate. I wasn't going through some kind of BBC vault trying to get women's numbers. I'm obviously going to say I'm not a sex pest. These were consenting adults I was texting."
Speaking yesterday, the ex-footballer claimed "there are two sides to every story."
Speaking to Times Radio on Thursday evening, Jenas said: "I can't really talk about it. As you can probably see, I'm not happy about it.
But currently as it stands I'm going to have to let the lawyers deal with it.
"There's two sides... that's all I can say now."
He added: "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."
One source has reportedly said: "It all came as a massive shock but his colleagues have now been told the news and he won't be back.
"His colleagues are stunned, they didn't see it coming at all. They were kept in the dark to start with. They couldn't believe it when they found out."
Another source said: "This is a categorical nightmare for the BBC.
"After some immediate routine enquiries the decision was taken to take him off air, and terminate his contract."
Jenas earned £190,000 - £194,999 at the BBC for his work on the FA Cup, Match of the Day and the World Cup.
His work on The One Show was for BBC Studios, the BBC's commercial production company, so his salary is not in the public domain.
Jenas is also employed by TNT Sports who told the BBC they were not making any comment.
