Alex Scott poked fun at bonkers comments made by Lord Digby Jones about her accent as she presented coverage of the Olympics on Saturday.
The former member of the House of Lords had taken to Twitter to proclaim that Scott “spoils” coverage with her “inability to pronounce her ‘g’s at the end of a word”.
He had tweeted on Friday: “Competitors are NOT taking part, Alex, in the fencin, rowin, boxin, kayakin, weightliftin & swimmin.’”
After clapping back on Twitter that she was proud of her background and accent, Scott decided to make a cheeky reference to the incident live on air.
During Saturday evening’s Olympic highlights show, she said: “So far we’ve been runnin’, ridin’, shootin’, scorin’, swimmin’ and puttin’ but we’ve still got a lot of gold to still uncover.”
Scott had previously responded to Lord Jones’ comments: “I’m from a working class family in East London, Poplar, Tower Hamlets & I am PROUD. Proud of the young girl who overcame obstacles, and proud of my accent! It’s me, it’s my journey, my grit.”
She continued: “A quick one to any young kids who may not have a certain kind of privilege in life. Never allow judgments on your class, accent, or appearance hold you back. Use your history to write your story.
“Keep striving, keep shining & don’t change for anyone.”
Sadiq Khan and Stephen Fry were among a number of high-profile names leaping to Scott’s defence on Twitter.
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