Presenter Sara Cox showed immaculate calm under pressure after a caller to her live BBC Radio 2 show called Matt Hancock a “c**t”.
The listener to Cox’s All Request Friday show – identified as Jesse from Devon – wanted to hear a Queen classic, but things quickly descended into chaos.
Cox asked: “Everyone’s going to love you for choosing a bit of Queen. What track are we playing and why?”
Jesse replied: “We’re playing Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen because Matt Hancock’s a c**t.”
The veteran broadcaster’s professionalism quickly kicked in as she swiftly mopped up the mess.
She said: “OK, so we’ve got to cut him off there. This is live radio, this kind of thing happens.
“I can only apologise if you’ve got children listening in the car. I’m going play the tune. Huge apologies, it is live, and here’s the song.”
The serving MP has faced criticism from opposition politicians and from within his own party for joining I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, with the Tory whip suspended.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak said Hancock’s decision to enter the jungle was not “noble” because he was failing to prioritise his “constituents and our country”.
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom says it has received almost 2,000 complaints about the ITV show – the majority objecting to the former health secretary’s participation.
In June last year, the MP resigned from the cabinet after he was caught breaking coronavirus social distancing rules by having an affair in his ministerial office with Gina Coladangelo, who was his aide at the time.