Jermaine Jenas says he has been ‘punished heavily’ following BBC sacking

Jermaine Jenas said he has been “punished heavily” following complaints about workplace conduct, which led to him being sacked by the BBC.

The former Tottenham and England midfielder was dismissed from his roles on Match Of The Day and The One Show in August 2024 after messages he sent to two women came to light.

Jenas had also been a regular pundit on sports programmes and a presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Months after his sacking, his wife, Ellie Penfold, announced the couple had split up after 16 years together.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Jenas said it had been a “tough two-year period”, adding: “I’ve lost everything essentially – my job, my family, everything was taken away from me. It’s not for me to decide the punishment, but that’s what happens.

“But my feelings aside, I was thinking about my children, I was thinking about Ellie and what I put her through. It was hard for me, and it has been hard for them, and it continues to be hard for them, and I think that that’s where I had to put most of my attention at that particular time to try and do what I could to protect them.”

Asked if he apologised to the women he sent messages to, he said: “I’ve always apologised.

“I’ve always apologised to everybody that was involved in it, whether it was the women who I was messaging and that was messaging me.

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“In terms of being able to sit in front of them, I wasn’t given the opportunity to sit in front of anybody and really apologise to anybody, and that’s fine, there is a duty of care around the whole situation.

“I was in a position of power in my role, in my job, and it was something that I shouldn’t have been doing, but also this was a marital thing also. And more