Ray Parlour slams Jermaine Jenas response to BBC axe - "What a waste of time"
Jermaine Jenas was working on talkSPORT's Drive show alongside Jermaine Pennant on Thursday when news of his sacking came to light and he later fielded some difficult questions on the allegations
Ray Parlour has called Jermaine Jenas' response to being axed by the BBC a "waste of time" after the presenter repeatedly avoided answering questions about his dismissal.
Jenas is facing allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" from a female member of staff on The One Show, relating to communications including text messages, with the 41-year-old losing his salary of around £190,000 and no longer set to appear on shows such as Match of the Day.
The presenter was working on talkSPORT's Drive show alongside Jermaine Pennant on Thursday when news of his sacking came to light and he later fielded some difficult questions on the allegations.
However, the former Tottenham and England man refused to divulge any information other than saying he was "not happy about the situation", and repeatedly said he would leave the matter with his lawyers.
READ MORE: Jermaine Jenas 'devastated' after losing staggering six-figure BBC salary over 'flirty texts'READ MORE: Sky Sports fans can save £216 on their bill, here's three other reasons you'll want to pick itAfter talkSPORT replayed the full clip on Friday morning during their breakfast show, Arsenal legend Parlour was baffled by his response and questioned what the point of it was with so little information given.
Reacting with co-host Natalie Sawyer, he said: "Tell you what, what a waste of three minutes in the morning, eh? I could have made a nice cup of tea. What was the point of that? If you can't say anything you just need to say that at the start, 'Sorry I can't speak now', that's it. Interview's over."
Sawyer added: "You're right. In a way he was better off just releasing a statement saying the matter is with my lawyers, but yeah I totally understand where you're coming from."
Parlour, who played 466 times for Arsenal between 1991 and 2004, then laughed and then said: "I'm sure our listeners are really riveted at home listening to that."
Jenas appeared uncomfortable in the studio as he reacted to the developing story after already working as a presenter for talkSPORT Drive.
He said: "I can't really talk about it. As you can probably see, I'm not happy about it. But currently as it stands I'm going to have to let the lawyers deal with it. There's two sides... that's all I can say now."
He added: "I'm not happy about this situation. I'm going to be speaking to my lawyers about it, is all I can say right now."
READ MORE: 5 candidates to replace Gary Lineker as BBC Match of the Day host after Jermaine Jenas axeREAD MORE: Jermaine Jenas won't commentate on Man Utd clash for TNT Sports after BBC sackingJenas also works as the main presenter for TNT Sport's Formula E coverage and has just finished his first season in the sport. The broadcaster have declined to comment on the matter.
Commenting further on Jenas, talkSPORT said it was aware of the allegations facing the presenter before the show but allowed him to continue hosting - but added that there were no plans for him to appear on another programme in the immediate future.
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