Jenas ‘is considering suing the BBC’ after he was sacked over inappropriate texts
Jermaine Jenas is considering suing the BBC after he was axed for sending inappropriate texts to female colleagues, according to reports.
Jenas (41) was dropped by The One Show and Match of the Day with immediate effect, after it emerged he had allegedly sent “suggestive” messages to junior staff on The One Show.
BBC bosses are said to be confident they have “absolute evidence” that the former footballer will struggle to refute.
Those who have seen the content of the messages, believed to have been sent by the former footballer to at least one runner via WhatsApp, said they were “horrified”.
Jenas has reportedly instructed lawyers who are looking at taking action against the BBC, according to MailOnline. It comes after he apologised for letting down his “family, friends and colleagues” in an interview with The Sun.
“I am ashamed, and I am deeply sorry,” he said. “I have let myself down, my family, friends and colleagues down, and I owe everyone an apology
— especially the women with whom I was messaging. I am sorry for what I have put them through. 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.”
Jenas said he fell below the standard of responsibility that “needs to be upheld when you’re a member of the BBC”, but insisted there was no criminality involved. “I did nothing illegal — these were inappropriate messages between two consenting adults,” he said.
Jenas told The Sun: “I’m not proud of what I wrote and what I said. And I do consider it cheating, yes, although nothing physical ever happened.”
Jenas said he felt as though he is “the number one target right now in the country”.
“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,” he told the newspaper.
“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.
“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.”
Jenas has been married to model Ellie Penfold for 13 years. According to official figures published last year, Jenas earned more than £190,000 (€224,000) for his work on the FA Cup, Match of the Day and the World Cup at the BBC. His salary for working on The One Show was not in the public
domain, as it is produced by BBC Studios.