British radio DJ Tom Binns has been fired after interrupting the Queen's traditional Christmas speech by saying "two words: Bor-ing."
Binns, who had been working in the studio alone at Birmingham-based radio station BRMB, decided to interrupt the speech after the station had accidentally switched to its feed.
The Queen's speech is traditionally broadcast on Christmas day and responds to important events in the year. It has been given most years since 1932. Queen Elizabeth II had been using this speech to pay tribute to soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
When Binns realized the speech was playing, he interrupted, made a joke about French monarchy being beheaded, before playing the song "Last Christmas" by Wham! with the introduction "from one Queen to another" - a reference to Wham! singer/songwriter George Micheal's homosexuality.
Following complaints to the station, Binns has now been fired from his position at the station by BRMB.
Binns claimed that few had complained to the station about the interruption, although there had been one death threat. He told British comedy website Chortle:
One man got really angry, he sent me a message saying I should be sent to Basra and hoped I'd get killed by a roadside bomb. That was so nasty it really got to me, given that it was Christmas and I've seen in graphic detail the effects those bombs can do as I've worked with [forces' radio] BFBS.
This was not Binns' first brush with infamy: Chortle also reports that Binns had previously been fired from another radio DJ slot for "coarse sexual innuendo" during a discussion on bestiality on a breakfast show.