BBC News presenter Clive Myrie has spoken out after he was pulled from an edition of the Ten O'Clock News. Myrie was taken off the show after hosting Have I Got News For You, during which he made a joke about former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
During an appearance on Steph's Packed Lunch, the host explained how he found out he would not be on air on Friday, June 16, the night before, The Mirror reports. Host Steph McGovern asked Clive when he knew he wouldn’t be presenting the 10 o’clock bulletin as planned.
He replied: “It was after I had recorded the show, which is the day before.” When asked if he could present News at Ten on Friday, the same night as the episode of Have I Got News for You aired, Myrie admitted: “No, no, I couldn't, I couldn't no.”
Myrie then confirmed him being pulled from the show was 'nothing to do with the jokes' about Boris Johnson. “It was nothing to do with the jokes, they’d have just pulled the programme if it was the jokes, it was because the two programmes were too close together.”
Gushing over his role on Have I Got News For You, the TV star said: “I love it, it's a great, great team behind the programme and Ian and Paul are wonderful, wonderful guys to be around and it's just fun. To be out of that sort of straitjacket of news for a while is brilliant.”
The BBC presenter made several jibes about the former PM throughout the programme, including opening the show by referencing Johnson's resignation. "After being found by the House of Commons committee to have lied repeatedly, Boris Johnson takes the opportunity to deny that he’s ever been jogging or has a dog," Myrie quipped over footage of Johnson out jogging with his dog Dilyn.
Following the news about Myrie, Gary Lineker has now hit out at BBC bosses. Taking to Twitter after learning that Myrie had been pulled from the show, he fumed: "Oh for crying out loud! If the BBC ask Clive to present Have I Got New For You he'll make political jokes."
Speaking to The Mirror, a BBC spokesperson said that Clive will be back to present the show tomorrow night. It comes after a BBC executive said of the situation: “It didn’t feel right for Clive to go almost straight to the news when he’d just been making jokes.
"It was a tonal thing rather than due to anyone being overly anxious."
