Vernon Kay’s BBC colleagues said they shouldn’t ‘dignify it with laughter’ after he was left apologising about a joke he made on his mid-morning radio show
Vernon Kay apologised after making a “rotten” joke live on BBC Radio 2. It came as new director general Matt Brittin visited BBC New Broadcasting House on Monday morning.
The former Google Europe boss warned the broadcaster faces “very real challenges” and “significant financial pressures”. He said he must find £500m of cuts to offset the pressures.
The government is currently reviewing the BBC Charter which was put in place in 2017. The new BBC Charter will outline the main objectives for the corporation as well as
During his show on Monday, Vernon jokingly apologised to licence fee payers after cracking out one of his finest “dad jokes”. It came after he played the track Boston by country singer Stella Lefty.
Vernon said: “Stella Lefty, Boston, on BBC Radio 2. Do you know who she’s dated? Fosters Righty…”
After one of Vernon’s colleagues joked they shouldn’t “dignify that with a laugh”, the star replied: “Don’t, really don’t. That one was really dug out from the bowels of dad gag land.”
He added: “I was quite pleased with it at first and then when I heard it, I was like, ‘Oh that is rotten’. People pay their licence fee for that, I apologise.
“And the DG is in the building, hopefully he’s got Radio 1Xtra on or something like that. Getting down with the kids.”
Former BBC director general Tim Davie warned the corporation was “in crisis” when it increased the licence fee to £180 last year. The £5.50 hike was required as part of the 2022 Licence Fee Settlement.
It means a standard colour licence fee will cost families £15 a month. Meanwhile a standard subscription to Netflix will cost £12.99 a month – with the premium service priced at £18.99.
Speaking on The Rest is Entertainment, he said: “Trust is built and I’m semi-obsessed by this – trust is built by people absolutely believing that someone is acting in their interest and that they listen to them. And if you think about an old-school broadcaster, it broadcasts….
“I think there have been too many instances where institutions and the BBC is definitely not exempt from this – where, call it what you will, metropolitan, a certain lens on life.”
In 2025 Vernon was among the BBC’s top earners, taking home between £390,000 and £394,999 a year. His mid-morning Radio 2 show is the most-popular in the United Kingdom, drawing in around 6.7 million listeners each week.
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