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Radio 1 apologises after Orlando Bloom uses racial slur in interview

Orlando Bloom (Credit: Dave Starbuck/Future Image/WENN.com)
Orlando Bloom (Credit: Dave Starbuck/Future Image/WENN.com)

BBC Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw had to make an on-air apology after actor Orlando Bloom used a racial slur during a live broadcast.

The 40-year old actor, speaking to Grimshaw on the Breakfast Show this morning, used the offending term, “pikey,” in reference to himself.

The remark was made in jest as Grimshaw quizzed Bloom on fight scenes and stunts. Adopting a gruff voice, Bloom joked, “I’m still a pikey from Kent, though, I’m still a pikey from Kent. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of me, boy.”

While Grimshaw did not remark on this at the time, he later described Bloom as a “bit of a loose cannon,” and told listeners, “Great to have him on the show, but apologies if you were offended by anything that Orlando may have said earlier on” – although they seem to have downplayed the event on social media.

‘Pikey’ (a term used at length in Guy Ritchie’s ‘Snatch’) is considered a pejorative against Irish Travellers and Romani Gypsies, with connotations of criminality.

Use of the term has seen the BBC come under investigation by OFCOM in the past, when Jeremy Clarkson used it on ‘Top Gear.’

Bloom was on the show in promotion of his new action thriller ‘Unlocked,’ opening 5 May. He also returns to the role of Will Turner for the first time in a decade in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge,’ opening 26 May.

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