Greg James issued an apology for his ‘gentle trolling’ of Neil Young that confused fans on social media, but he has been warned by a former BBC employee

A BBC star has sent a warning to Greg James after revealing he had been axed from Radio One.

Presenter Greg, 39, issued an apology to fans after a post hinted he had quit his morning show. Followers of BBC Radio One’s Breakfast Show had shared their fear that he was leaving after he made fun of Neil Young’s Glastonbury U-turn; the singer has agreed once again to perform at the iconic festival after initially pulling out.

He shared a reel of slides, initially claiming he was “no able to continue” to work for the organisation due to a change in events. Despite his post being a joke, Greg was forced into explaining what was going on in an Instagram post. He uploaded a video alongside his wife, Bella Mackie, to share the joke with his followers, insisting it was just a bit of “gentle trolling”.

Phil Taggart joked on Greg’s post ( 
Image:
(C) BBC 2010)
However, one former BBC star was quick to comment on Greg’s explanation with a word of warning. Phil Taggart joked writing alongside a laughing emoji: “I got binned for playing Joy Division. They’ve marked your cards with this Neil Young joke.”

Phil’s words were warmly received by followers clicking the like button. Phil left his role at the BBC in 2020. He had started with the organisation in 2013, where he was the host of BBC Introducing in Northern Ireland. Shortly after, he took on a job on Radio 1’s national programmes.

In Greg’s initial post, he wrote: “Radio 1 is a corporate turn off, and not for me like it used to be”. He claimed he was instead be focusing on his “many podcasts”.

Further along the reel, he said there had been an “error” and insisted he would indeed return to hosting the morning show. Greg’s mocking saw him write: “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not do the breakfast show, which I always have loved. Happily the radio show is now back on my itinerary and we look forward to being there when you need some fun in the morning! Hope to see you there.”

This was in reference to Neil’s statement, in which the artist said: “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury Festival, which I always have loved. Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing. Hope to see you there.”

After a selection of images on Greg’s joke post, the radio presenter added: “Looking forward to management’s reaction to a Neil Young Glastonbury joke. I might have inadvertently ruined my first day back. Made me laugh though so that’s good at least.”