BBC apologises for playing a song containing a racial slur on radio
BBC Radio Music 6 has apologised after DJ Cerys Matthews played a song containing a racial slur during her live radio show on Sunday.
During her Sunday morning radio show, the former Catatonia singer-songwriter broadcast Thomas Fraser's cover of 'The Mississippi Shore', a controversial blues track that was written 80 years ago in the 1940s.
"Shall we take a trip, virtually anyway, to the Isle of Burra and it'll be around 1940s and 1950s," Matthews said in her intro, referencing where Scottish-born Fraser – who never actually released any music while he was alive – hailed from.
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The track includes a racial slur used to describe Black people in a derogative manner, and many Radio 6 listeners took objection to it being played.
"I've just listened again on Spotify and it's clearly what I thought. I'm sure it was a horrible error but a tweet of apology would be a good idea," one listener later wrote on Twitter.
Cerys later acknowledged the complaints on Twitter too, saying: "Checking now – it shouldn't have passed through of course. It's a huge priority for me. Thanks for the heads up."
"It shouldn't have got through," she added to another listener. "Trying to redact it now."
It shouldn’t have got through. Trying to redact it now xx
— Cerys Matthews (@cerysmatthews) July 19, 2020
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BBC Radio 6 later issued a statement apologising after the song was broadcast, saying: "Unfortunately an unedited version of this song containing an offensive term was broadcast in error on 6 Music.
"We apologise for any offence caused and will work to ensure this does not happen again."
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