The latest in a series of Sun stories about the behaviour of BBC Top Gear host and Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans has led the BBC to accuse the tabloid of printing “unfounded nonsense”.
The paper quotes a BBC source saying: “Chris’s ego is out of control and he’s behaving far worse than Clarkson ever did.”
The BBC has responded with a statement from Radio 2 controller Bob Shennan and BBC Studios director Mark Linsey, which was not used in The Sun print edition and appears partially online.
They said: “The assertion that Chris Evans’ behaviour at Radio 2 since beginning work at Top Gear has been in any way below BBC acceptable levels is completely untrue.
“The Sun, for its own reasons, continues on a weekly, sometimes daily basis to publish negative stories about Top Gear and unfounded nonsense about Chris, which is no longer worth any serious consideration or response.”
The Sun said in a statement: “The Sun stands by its story, which was corroborated by several excellent sources at the BBC. We informed the BBC their statement was too long to be included in the story and they declined to shorten it, although part of it was used in the online article.”
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