UK radio announcer sacked after labelling Queen’s Christmas speech bor-ing

Birmingham radio comedian Tom Binns has been sacked for pulling the Queen’s Christmas Day message off air because it was “bor-ing.”

The station took a feed of the Queen’s annual address by mistake and Binns, who was working alone in the studio, took the decision to take it off air. Station owner Orion Media did not think this was a good idea and also found his subsequent comments in bad taste.

After taking the speech off, Binns made a joke about the French royal family being beheaded and introduced the next song, Last Christmas by Wham!, with the words “from one Queen to another…”

The Queen used her Christmas message to the nation to express her sadness at the loss of UK troops in Afghanistan in the bloodiest year for British forces since the invasion in 2001.

Speaking to a UK blog site (click below) Binns said he had not been listening to the content of the speech, but decided to interrupt because the station should have been broadcasting a news bulletin instead.

He is quoted on the website explaining: “I’m not trained to make editorial decisions, but I decided to get rid of it and make a joke. I said: ‘Two words: bor-ing… “It’s got to the point where comedians aren’t allowed to say anything that could possibly offend anyone anymore.”

Orion Media Group program director, David Lloyd issued a statement saying:

“On Christmas Day, one of our presenters Tom Binns made some inappropriate comments surrounding the Queen’s speech.

“We do not condone what he said in any way, whether said in jest or not. We are making contact with the small number of listeners who were offended by Tom’s comments and have complained to us to convey our apologies and have also apologised on air. Tom will now not be featuring again on our radio stations.”

More about Binns, who created a comic radio character called Ivan Brackenbury, can be found at www.ivanbrackenbury.com.