The BBC was forced to apologize Tuesday for playing Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" immediately after a news report about the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on one of its radio stations, Radio 6 Music.
The lyrics of "Hey Joe" feature lines about a man who says he shot his "old lady" "down to the ground" — which sits uncomfortably with the story of Pistorius, the Olympic star who is being charged with murdering his girlfriend.
A spokesperson for the BBC said the choice of song was a mistake.
"In light of the nature of the news story, we apologise for any offence caused by the proximity of the song 'Hey Joe' to the bulletin," she said. "An on-air apology was made immediately the mistake was realized."
The BBC is not the first outlet to make this sort of error. CNN had to apologize last August for playing Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" after a report about the shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
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