The BBC apologized Tuesday after audio from a pornographic recording aired during part of its coverage of an FA Cup soccer match.
As the sounds of moaning could be heard on set, one of the hosts attempted to make light of the situation. "Somebody’s sending something on someone’s phone, I think. I don’t know whether you heard it at home," Gary Lineker said.
The audio was found to have come from a mobile device that was taped to the back of the broadcasting set in what appeared to be a prank.
Lineker tweeted, "Well, we found this taped to the back of the set. As sabotage goes it was quite amusing."
The BBC Press Office tweeted in response to the incident, "We apologise to any viewers offended during the live coverage of the football this evening. We are investigating how this happened."
The incident drew mixed reactions on Twitter.
"As someone else has said, it sounds like someone scored," James Bembridge, deputy editor at Country Squire UK tweeted.
Josh Halliday, a correspondent for The Guardian, praised the hosts for keeping the show on track despite the obscene interruption.
"Seems like more than a one-off prank … BBC Sport coverage being repeatedly interrupted. Gary Lineker, Danny Murphy and Paul Ince doing a good job keeping the show going (mostly with straight faces)," he tweeted.
The British Broadcasting Corporation is the nation broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is publicly funded.
