Radio apology after Rage swear live on air
Radio apology after Rage Against the Machine swear live on air
Thursday, 17, Dec 2009 12:54
By Lewis Bazley.
The BBC has issued an apology after US rock band Rage Against the Machine swore in a live breakfast show performance after a discussion of the race for Christmas number one.
The band's 1992 single Killing in the Name is subject of an internet campaign aiming to end the dominance of the Christmas chart by winners of ITV1's The X Factor.
Rage Against the Machine were ahead of X Factor winner Joe McElderry according to early sales figures, though the physical release of McElderry's debut single The Climb is expected to see the ballad charge to the top of the charts.
Rage Against the Machine appeared on Radio 5's live breakfast show on Thursday morning, discussing the online campaign to propel their song to number one before performing Killing in the Name via a live link-up.
And when singer Zack de la Rocha reached the song's explicit refrain of "F**K you, I won't do what you tell me", he was heard uttering the offending swearword four times before producers pulled the plug.
Listeners heard presenter Shelagh Fogarty remark: "Get rid of it!" as the song faded out.
She added: "Sorry. We needed to get rid of that because that suddenly turned in to something we were not expecting.
"Well, we were expecting it and asked them not to do it and they did it anyway - so buy Joe's record."
A BBC spokesman has since commented: "We had spoken to [Rage Against the Machine] repeatedly beforehand and they had agreed not to swear."
"When they did, we faded the band out and apologised immediately to anyone who was offended."
The incident can be heard below, with De La Rocha's swearing in the final minute: