Jeremy Vine forced to apologise after caller swears on live TV

The Jeremy Vine Show was disrupted by a foul-mouthed caller on Friday's episode (5 January).

Airing on Channel 5, presenter Jeremy Vine opened the floor to viewers on whether they believed current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, will beat Labour Party leader Keir Starmer in the next general election - to be held in a year's time at the very latest.

"Let's go to Bob in Glasgow. Bob, do you think Rishi Sunak can win it?" was Vine's link.

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Following a momentary silence, Bob yelled down the phoneline: "F*** the Pope and the IRA!" before being cut off by the broadcaster.

Somewhat baffled by what had just unfolded, an unfazed Vine told those watching at home: "No idea what that is. If there was any bad language in that we apologise.

"Joking apart, we do everything we can to avoid any bad language on the programme, and we know it offends some viewers and it's rude to everyone when a caller can't control their language," he explained.

"So please, the gentleman who rang just then, please don't call again."

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Resharing a clip of this random outburst on social media platform X - formerly known as Twitter - the talkshow host later admitted he'd listened to Bob's statement "20 times" and still couldn't "make out a single word" of it.

"Isn't there a screening check on phone-ins to try to stop these kind of calls being broadcast" and "Can't believe you don't have a delay on the phone-in though to allow you to stop this happening," commented a pair of X users.

The Jeremy Vine Show airs weekdays at 9:15am on Channel 5.

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