The BBC have issued an apology after a prank was pulled during their coverage of Liverpool’s clash against Wolves.
The Reds were playing Wolves in their FA Cup third round replay at Molineux on Tuesday night. Liverpool went into the half-time break 1-0 in front thanks to a long-range strike from Harvey Elliott.
However, before the match a prank was pulled on the BBC’s coverage. Gary Lineker was working as a pundit alongside Paul Ince and Danny Murphy. With around 10 minutes until kick-off, as the trio were talking, they were interrupted by what sounded like pornographic groans.
READ MORE: Gary Lineker explains sex noise 'sabotage' during BBC live coverage of Wolves vs Liverpool
READ MORE: BBC hit by 'porn noise prank' on live coverage of Wolves vs Liverpool
Lineker carried on regardless, with Alan Shearer later being introduced as a pundit shortly after. The ex-Everton man handled the disruption well though, despite being forced to say: "I don't know who is making that noise."
The BBC have issued an apology to viewers following the prank. The company's press office posted a tweet with an apology.
"We apologise to any viewers offended during the live coverage of the football this evening," the statement read. "We are investigating how this happened.”
During the half-time break, Lineker made a couple of references to the prank. The first came during Murphy’s analysis of Liverpool’s first-half performance.
When Murphy was referencing his own pre-match comments about Liverpool, Lineker said: “I don’t think anyone was listening.” Murphy then replied: “No, probably not. Fair point, Gary."
“In fact, I could have said anything.” Ince, meanwhile, could be seen laughing in the background.
Later, when beginning to look at the match in more detail, Lineker made another joke. This time he made reference to Elliott’s goal.
“Harvey Elliott’s goal was a screamer, which is not the only one we’ve had tonight,” Lineker said at half-time.
The Match of the Day presenter also revealed the cause of the noises. “Well, we found this taped to the back of the set. As sabotage goes it was quite amusing,” Lineker tweeted tonight, along with a picture of the offending phone.
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