It has been ten years since Keys and his co-presenter Andy Gray left Sky after they were overheard making sexist comments
10:09, 24 Jan 2021Updated 10:11, 24 Jan 2021
Presenter Richard Keys believes he and Andy Gray were "set up" by enemies as he reflected on losing his job at Sky Sports ten years ago.
The two men regularly presented Sky's football coverage for a number of years until they they were overheard making derogatory comments about female assistant referee Sian Massey.
Gray was sacked and Keys later resigned after further examples of sexist language being used was uncovered.
They now both work for Qatar based beIN SPORTS, but in an interview with The Athletic Keys looked back on what occurred in 2011.
"The incident, we should have seen coming," he said. "It was a set-up, of course it was. But they made capital out of it.
Richard Keys and Andy Gray now work at beIN Sports(Image: UGC)
"Don’t forget, neither of us were caught behind an open mic. What happened to me was recorded on a telephone in that studio, it seems to me it was done with a specific purpose.
"Andy wasn’t live when he was stood pitchside. That anger that I carry in my back pocket, I will never, ever put away."
Keys also recalled a chance encounter he and Gray had with now-Massey-Ellis at Birmingham Airport recently.
"We all laughed, she was a little embarrassed," he continued. "And Andy had to explain to her, ‘It was absolutely nothing to do with you. It really wasn’t. So don’t ever think that it was.’
They also appeared on talkSPORT(Image: PA)
"It was nothing to do with Sian. We don’t blame her at all. She’s been fantastic. The smallest things, she gets right. She has been brilliant. And I’m really pleased she’s gone on to make a mark."
Keys courted further controversy recently after it was found he had a profile on the video messaging website Cameo in which he was using a sexist remark he had uttered in greetings to make money.