DISGRACED former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys has claimed he was ‘set up’ by the TV giants.
Keys, 63, quit in 2011 after he asked pundit Jamie Redknapp if he had slept with an ex by asking him, “Did you smash it?”.
Richard Keys, right with Andy Gray, believes the pair were ‘set up’ by SkyCredit: Press Association
Co-presenter Andy Gray, 64, was fired after making sexist comments about a lineswoman.
Now, in an interview with The Athletic, Keys revealed his belief that there was a ‘specific purpose’ for recording off-air in the studio ten years ago.
The current beIN Sports presenter explained: “The incident, we should have seen coming.
“It was a set-up, of course it was. But they made capital out of it.
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“Don’t forget, neither of us were caught behind an open mic. What happened to me was recorded on a telephone in that studio, it seems to me it was done with a specific purpose.”
Keys and Gray were given a given a warning by Sky after moaning that Sian Massey had been chosen as lineswoman for a Premier League game.
They were heard to joke that women didn’t understand the offside rule.
Later, footage also emerged of Gray asking presenter Charlotte Jackson to tuck his microphone down his trousers.
The two men used to be the faces of Sky Sports’ football coverage
Gray and Keys now host football programmes for beIN Sports
Keys added: “Andy wasn’t live when he was stood pitchside. That anger that I carry in my back pocket, I will never, ever put away.”
He then explained how the two presenters had bumped into Massey recently and that they ‘all laughed over the incident’.
He added: “She was a little embarrassed.
“And Andy had to explain to her, ‘It was absolutely nothing to do with you. It really wasn’t. So don’t ever think that it was.’”
Gray and Keys have been based in Doha for more than six years and present weekend Premier League matches, as well as a Friday night preview show.
Sian Massey was chosen as lineswoman for Wolves against Liverpool in January 2011Credit: PA:Empics Sport
The Sun reported in 2019 how Keys was making light of his previous comments while selling personalised greetings on Cameo.
His blog on the site read: “Richard Keys, sports presenter.
“Let’s ‘smash it’ together and have a bit of banter.”
Gray was also flogging messages on Cameo for £58.10 a time.
Andy Gray and Richard Keys sexism row
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
