Radio DJ sacked for Queen's speech cut-off

Radio DJ Tom Binns has been dismissed from Birmingham station BRMB after he interrupted the Queen's speech while on air.

After the station accidentally took a feed of the Queen's annual address on Christmas Day, stand-up comedian and presenter Binns opted to cut it off, telling listeners: "Two words: Bor-ing."

He then made a joke about the French royal family being beheaded before introducing the next record, Last Christmas by Wham!, by saying, "from one Queen to another..."

BRMB owner Orion Media Group subsequently sacked Binns after a "small number" of listeners complained about the comments, including one who issued a death threat.

"On Christmas Day, one of our presenters Tom Binns made some inappropriate comments surrounding the Queen's speech," said Orion Media programme and marketing director David Lloyd.

"We do not condone what he said in any way, whether said in jest or not. We are making contact with the small number of listeners who were offended by Tom's comments and have complained to us to convey our apologies and have also apologised on air. Tom will now not be featuring again on our radio stations."

In response, Binns claimed that he cut the speech short because the station was actually supposed to be transmitting a news bulletin.

Speaking to comedy website Chortle, he said: "I knew it shouldn't be there, but having never heard it before, I didn't know how long it was going to go on for. I'm not trained to make editorial decisions, but I decided to get rid of it and make a joke.

"I then went into an old riff about how people say the royal family are good for tourism, but the French beheaded theirs and people still visit France. The next record was George Michael's Last Christmas, so I made some sort of comment about 'going from one Queen to another' as a parody of a cheesy DJ.

"Nobody would have tuned in to hear the Queen's speech and I tried to deal with in in a funny way. After all they employ comedians to make jokes."

Binns described his dismissal as a "knee-jerk reaction" and said that broadcasters are now "scared to death" of any complaints following a series of high-profile controversies.

"It's got to the point where comedians aren't allowed to say anything that could possibly offend anyone anymore," he added.

In October, comedian Frankie Boyle quit Mock The Weak after the show was rebuked for his comments about Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington.