The BBC has issued an apology after their live broadcast last night (18 January) of the FA Cup match between Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers was interrupted by explicit noises of a woman moaning.
Videos of the incident circulated wildly on social media, showing former footballers and pundits Gary Lineker, Danny Murphy and Paul Ince discussing the match in the studio.
They were abruptly interrupted as the sounds of the woman moaning loudly interrupted their discussions, and were seen visibly uncomfortable as they continued with the broadcast.
BBC ONE HAVE HAD A NIGHTMARE pic.twitter.com/Wj4Q21lU6K
— 🏴 (@LJGLA_) January 17, 2023
This isn’t edited… someone player sex noises on the build up to Wolves vs Liverpool in the FA Cup for a solid 3-4 minutes… pic.twitter.com/VCTwIL8HRr
— Peter Gillibrand (@GillibrandPeter) January 17, 2023
The noises apparently went on for a few minutes.
The broadcast then cuts off to former England striker Alan Shearer in the commentary box, and Lineker tried to hold back his laughter.
Lineker tried to explain with situation to the viewers, saying “I don’t know who is making that noise,” before we added that “I don’t know if somebody is sending something on someone’s phone. I think it’s a joke, I don’t know if you heard it at home.”
Apology
A spokesperson for the BBC later issued a statement, saying that they apologise for the incident, and that they are currently investigating.
Lineker later shared an update on his Twitter, showing an old mobile phone that he said was taped to the back of the set, tweeting “as sabotage goes, it was quite amusing.”
Well, we found this taped to the back of the set. As sabotage goes it was quite amusing. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ikUhBJ38Je
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) January 17, 2023
Alleged pranksters
A video later emerged on YouTube, showing a group of pranksters who were allegedly responsible for the explicit moaning sounds.
They were seen making calls, presumably to the phone that was taped up at the BBC studio to initiate the ringtone of the moaning sounds.
