Radio 4 rapped over 'grossly offensive' pun

Radio 4 has been criticised by the BBC Trust for a ‘grossly offensive’ pun.

The corporation’s watchdogs ruled that describing the Cambridge boat race crew who fired their cox as ‘cox sackers’ should never have been broadcast.

The line went out on the afternoon show Thinking Allowed, hosted by Laurie Taylor, and was contained in a listener's email about a previous article.

One listener took offence and even though BBC managers twice rejected the complained, they pursued it all the way to the trust who today ruled many listeners would have found it ‘seriously offensive’, breaking guidelines.

The corporation's editorial complaints unit had initially described the phrase as ‘light hearted and hilarious’ and appropriate for an ‘essentially adult’ radio station – as the double meaning would have been lost on children.

But the trust said: ‘If the words had been articulated clearly, the phrase would have been within the expectation of the programme’s audience. However... the Committee believed the phrase was not articulated clearly enough and could easily have been misheard for the offensive word “cocksuckers”.’

The Trust issued an apology and said the segment should not be featured in any future repeat.

Published: 15 May 2013