Jermaine Jenas has lashed out at the BBC after the former Tottenham and Newcastle midfielder was sacked by the corporation due to his workplace conduct. The 42-year-old started working in the media industry during the latter stages of his football career, before retiring from the sport at the start of 2016.
Jenas began co-hosting The One Show in 2020 and regularly featured on Match of the Day during his time with the Beeb. But he was accused of sending ‘inappropriate messages’ to a colleague, with the BBC compiling a dossier of evidence against him after conducting a thorough investigation. And in August, he was dismissed by the corporation as he lost his £190,000 role.
Jenas appeared on a podcast with Reece Mennie this week to discuss the next chapter of his career in broadcasting.
And the former England international explained: “It’s been a really difficult moment for myself and my family, what happened. I have always held up my hand and taken full responsibility for it, that’s very important to do.
“You go through a lot of different emotions of anger and blame, but eventually you realise ‘take responsibility and you’ll be able to move forward.’
“Because of their ability to take away my life, in terms of every deal I had, the jobs that I had at that particular time, I said that is never happening to me again.
“You’re in this kind of media bubble where you work for the BBC, there are so many walls in terms of what they want you to do and what you’re not allowed to do.
“So I’ve recently set up my own production company. My agency that I had at the time weren’t that supportive of it.”
Jenas continued: “Betting companies want to work with me because I’m in football. BBC hate that because of the issues to do with gambling in general, so they block all of that.
“So there were a lot of blocks on one side and football was bringing me some stuff, but the reality is that it all got wiped out. It all got taken away.”
Jenas and his wife Ellie Penfold announced their split in March, seven months after his BBC departure. And discussing the conduct that led to his BBC downfall, the former footballer added: “It was a mistake that is something that me and my wife and my family have to deal with.
“I worked 10 years post-retirement from being a footballer and I can take it as far back as I want from starting from nothing to becoming a footballer to getting myself in a very fortunate position to work on television.
“It’s a lot of hard work that you put into the job, but at the same time, it can be taken away from you like that. That’s one thing that I’ve recognised.”