‘I’m actually f***ed off with this happening to every mixed race/black sportsperson’: England rugby star Ellis Genge left furious after BBC wrongly use picture of team-mate Lewis Ludlam instead of him in interview published on their website
- Ellis Genge hit out at the BBC after they used a picture of his England team-mate
- Genge did an interview but the BBC published it with a picture of Lewis Ludlam
- The Leicester prop said he was ‘f***ed off’ with this happening’ on social media
- Courtney Lawes and former England captain Will Carling also condemned it
- Genge was asked about the statue of Edward Colston being torn down in Bristol
England prop Ellis Genge has slammed the BBC after they incorrectly used a picture of international team-mate Lewis Ludlam in an interview posted on their website.
Genge, who plays for Leicester Tigers and has won 18 caps for England, furiously tweeted his disgust, posting: ‘I’m actually f***ed off with this happening to every mixed race/black sportsperson.
‘Must be the 15th time in less than a year just between me and @LewisLudlam’.
Ellis Genge slammed the BBC for using a picture of Lewis Ludlam (C) in an interview with him
Genge (left) was livid after the BBC used a picture of England team-mate Ludlam (right)
Ludlam agreed with Genge’s anger, and revealed it was not the first time it happened to him
Ludlam also replied saying it was ‘not the first time this has happened’. The Northampton Saints youngster also revealed ITV once confused him with England and Bath star Anthony Watson.
A BBC spokesperson said in a statement to Yahoo Sport: ‘We apologise for this human error which fell below our usual standards on the website.’
England team-mate and Ludlam’s Northampton Saints colleague Courtney Lawes also backed the pair, commenting: ‘I mean… you and gengey aren’t even the same shade’.
Former England captain Will Carling declared the incident ‘just shocking’.
Ludlam shared an image from ITV where they called him England team-mate Anthony Watson
England team-mate Courtney Lawes commented ‘you and gengey aren’t even the same shade’
Former England captain Will Carling also commented on the incident, saying it was ‘shocking’
Genge was speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live about anti-racism protestors pulling down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, the city in which he grew up, on Sunday.
He said: ‘I’ve got a lot of black family in Bristol and we’re all proud Bristolians but at the same time, we didn’t want a big statue in the middle of a slave trader.
‘I think it’s warranted to pull the statue down after 10 years of asking.’
Genge also revealed he had been the target of racial abuse during his lifetime and says rugby must do more to be more inclusive to the BAME community.
Genge was speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live about anti-racism protestors pulling down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol
Genge, who has 18 England caps, says rugby must be more inclusive to the BAME community
He added: ‘The issue with rugby is that it’s been a white man’s game for a number of years and there’s not really any black coaches or ethnic coaches especially over here in England,’ he added.
‘I’d love to see black coaches thriving in this game, I think me and Maro [Itoje] spoke about it before.
‘There’s not a hunger for it out there at the moment, football pays a lot better, so all the kids that I know that are young and in poverty, they all want to be footballers because they’re all icons, that’s the way they’re presented commercially.
‘I didn’t even know rugby was professional when I was younger and I can understand why the youth and the poverty of today don’t want to be rugby players because it’s not the way it’s presented, it’s sort of put on this posh pedestal and it’s slowly breaking the mould.’