Cerys Matthews admits mistake after playing song containing racist slur on her BBC 6 Music show
- ‘Darkies’ slur appeared in a version of the 1940 song The Mississippi Shore
- Matthews, 51, apologised today after yesterday’s broadcast on live radio
- BBC said song was an ‘unedited version’ and apologised for any offence
Cerys Matthews today admitted making a mistake after playing a song containing a racist slur on her BBC 6 Music show.
The presenter, 51, featured Scottish country music singer Thomas Fraser’s cover of the 1940 song The Mississippi Shore, which contains the word ‘darkies’.
Responding to outrage on Twitter after yesterday’s broadcast, she replied: ‘Shouldn’t have gone through. Trying to redact it now xx.’
Cerys Matthews featured Scottish country music singer Thomas Fraser’s cover of the 1940 song The Mississippi Shore, which contains the word ‘darkies’
Responding to outrage on Twitter after yesterday’s broadcast she replied: ‘Shouldn’t have gone through. Trying to redact it now xx’
The song contains the lyrics: ‘I can hear them darkies singing. I can hear the guitars playing.’
Fraser was born on the Isle of Burra, and in her introduction to the song Matthews said: ‘Shall we take a trip, virtually anyway, to the Isle of Burra and it’ll be around 1940s and 1950s and we’ll be sitting on our in our croft after a busy day working the land or fishing.
‘And we’ll have a reel-to-reel set up in front of us, we’ll pick our guitar up, we’ll press record and we’ll start to sing this.’
Listeners later reacted angrily on Twitter after hearing the racist slur.
Alison Leeming wrote: ‘Was there a deeply inappropriate lyric in there? Or did I mishear?’
Fraser was born on the Isle of Burra and recorded a cover version of 1940 song The Mississippi Shore
Matthews responded: ‘Checking now-it shouldn’t have passed through of course. It’s a huge priority for me. Thanks for heads up.’
She later added: ‘It shouldn’t have got through. Trying to redact it now xx.’
The BBC said: ‘Unfortunately an unedited version of this song containing an offensive term was broadcast in error on 6 Music.
‘We apologise for any offence caused and will work to ensure this does not happen again.’