Pat Sharp has left Greatest Hits Radio “with immediate effect” after making an ill-judged remark about a woman’s breasts while hosting an awards show.
The Fun House star, 61, was presenting the Conference News Agency Awards last Friday, when he made an inappropriate comment that shocked a room of approximately 400 people.
According to Deadline, the I’m A Celeb star handed a woman a T-shirt that sported a picture of his face from the 1980s, alongside the phrase: “Looking Sharp since 1982.”
Sources at the event told the outlet that when the woman joined the presenter onstage, he made a vulgar remark about his image being on her chest.
Sources added that the woman left the room in tears.
The woman at the centre of the controversy addressed the matter on her LinkedIn page, without naming Sharp, but said she was left “humiliated”.
She wrote: “I was belittled, sexualised and objectified in front of hundreds of people I respect.”
In light of the controversy, Sharp said in a statement that he was "truly sorry" for causing upset and added that he’d apologised to the woman directly.
The former Top of the Pop host said: “Last Friday, I made a joke on stage which was not well received. I upset one individual in particular and for that I am truly sorry.
“I apologised at the event to anyone who was offended and I have apologised to the individual personally too.”
MashMedia, who organised the event, said in a statement as reported by the Independent: “Conference News disavows the statement made by Pat Sharp. It was unscripted and does not represent the ideals that we want to promote as a business.
“We’re doing our part to support the affected delegate in the aftermath and have requested both a public and private apology from Sharp.”
Almost a week on from the fallout, Greatest Hits Radio announced that Sharp would be leaving to “explore other opportunities” with “immediate effect”.
The broadcaster’s parent company Bauer Media Group said that Sharp’s contract was due expire at the end of March, explaining that the decision had been made prior to his ill-judged remark.
A Bauer spokesperson told The Standard: “Due to the introduction of new weekend programming, a decision had already been made not to renew Pat’s contract which comes to an end later this month.
“However with this issue now having been brought to our attention, we have agreed with Pat that he will not return to the station with immediate effect."
Sharp, who has been on the station since 2019, will be replaced by Mark Goodier.
The Standard has contacted Sharp for additional comment.
