BBC apologises after Ali G outburst

BBC Radio 1 chiefs apologised today after a foul-mouthed outburst from Ali G during the station’s breakfast show prompted a stream of complaints.

The spoof hip-hop character - played by comic Sacha Baron Cohen - used an expletive which listeners rank as the most offensive during an interview that was littered with sexual references.

His comments came when many children would have been listening after breaking up for half-term.

Ali began with a number of sexual remarks, including a claim that he had ‘‘knobbed J-Lo’’, but it was not until nearly half an hour later that the interview ended.

The final straw was when he said the word ‘‘f***er’’, which prompted an apology from presenter Sara Cox.

Radio 1 had received a total of 20 complaints about the appearance by this afternoon.

During Ali G’s time on air he referred to Pop Idol contestant Gareth Gates as ‘‘spasticated’’, and then called the ITV1 show’s winner Will Young a ‘‘batty boy’’.

Cox seemed to encourage his coarse language by asking him to expand on his comments when he said anyone watching their chat on a webcam would need to see it in widescreen because he was so ‘‘big’’.

Ali G is making a bid for the pop charts after teaming up with Shaggy on a track called Julie, which has had to be heavily censored to gain radio play.

But he went on to refer to the words which had been removed and used the word ‘‘f***er’’.

The station makes an issue of the number of under 15s listening to it by including them in its audience figures, and many school age children in Britain are on half-term holidays this week.

Ali G also joked that he had smuggled drugs back from Jamaica while shooting a video there.

Asked whether he had brought back any souvenirs, he said: ‘‘About as much weed as I could squeeze up my bum.’’

Even fellow guest Shaggy said: ‘‘I hope to God my Mom isn’t listening.’’

Cox apologised to viewers after the swearing and again at the end of her show.

The BBC said there was no question of her being in trouble for her handling of the interview - and the fault lay with the comic for his comments.

A spokesman said: ‘‘She did everything she could to apologise for a regrettable outburst during a live broadcast.

‘‘The difficulty was that it was near-the-knuckle stuff but it was content which is typical of Ali G’s style.

‘‘We did talk to him before doing the interview to remind him of producer guidelines which apply to all BBC shows to make sure his content did fall within that.

‘‘We are certainly extremely apologetic to any of our listeners and Sara’s apology was issued immediately afterwards.’’

The spokesman agreed there would be many younger listeners during half-term, but guests were not chosen on the basis of whether it was a school holiday.

He said Cox did ‘‘everything she could’’ to avoid offence and did not encourage the swearing.

‘‘It was a very fast-paced interview with a lot of rapid-fire conversation. If any part of it caused offence, we apologise.’’

Ali’s movie Ali G In Da House opens at cinemas across the UK from March 22.