BBC bosses 'have spoken to' Dame Laura Kenny after Olympic cycling legend accused of promoting luxury clothing brands while presenting in Paris By Emily Jane Davies and Grant Tucker Published: 07:09 BST, 19 August 2024 | Updated: 07:20 BST, 19 August 2024 e-mail View comments BBC bosses have reportedly spoken to Dame Laura Kenny after the Olympic cycling legend was accused of promoting luxury clothing brands while presenting in Paris. The 32-year-old was accused of promoting Breitling watches and plugging Reiss dresses on the BBC during the Paris Games. The Dame seemed to break the Corporation's strict guidelines for on-air talent which prohibit them from promoting brands they wear on screen.
The Breitling brand advertiser wore one of its £2,750 watches on-air and tagged the brand on Instagram and it shared photos of her wearing the watch on TV. It comes after viewers of the Paris Olympics admired her glamorous array of clothing worn on screen and she tagged BBC Sport alongside the upmarket clothing brand Reiss in her social media posts. The Telegraph reported that the BBC has spoken to the former track and road cyclist to remind her of the rules around advertising.
Olympic legend Laura Kenny has been accused of promoting Breitling watches on the BBC The Dame is accused of breaking strict rules about advertising after the Breitling brand advertiser wore one of its £2,750 watches on-air while interviewing her husband Dame Laura Kenny has got herself in hot water after she appeared to promote the upmarket clothing brand Reiss on social media straight after she wore clothes from the brand on the BBC For the closing ceremony in the French capital, the cycling star opted for a £228 pink dress The Dame has now removed mention of brands from her social media posts. After the Mail on Sunday previously approached her team, a spokesman said: 'Dame Laura is not an ambassador for Reiss.' The Olympics host then removed references to the firm from all of her social media photos posted during her presenting stint.
One Instagram post by Breitling read: 'Ambassador Laura Kenny looking gorgeous in the Endurance Pro 38.' While interviewing her seven-time Olympic gold medallist husband Jason, she also wore a Breitling watch and the brand reacted with a clapping hands emoji. The BBC's rules state: 'No on-air talent should promote products, goods, services or clothing they use on air.
' This includes anything they have 'agreed, or been contracted, to promote or in which they have financial interest'. A BBC source told The Mirror : 'She is no longer on air but will be removing the tags from BBC-related posts.' MailOnline has commented Kenny's representatives for comment.
Laura Kenny posted the pictures on her Instagram page during the Olympics Dame Laura posted a slew of pictures on her Instagram page wearing Reiss during the Games In the pictures she wrote @reiss to allow people to find the clothing brand from her page After her first day in her new job since retiring from track cycling, Dame Laura had received hundreds of messages from fans praising her commentary. Read More Gary Lineker accused of breaching BBC rules AGAIN after appearing in his own range of Next clothes The 32-year-old posted on Instagram: 'The best first day in the studio! Thank you all so much for all the lovely messages about my punditry. I really appreciate every single one of them.
Bring on the rest of the week.' The five-times Olympic champion accompanied the post with pictures of her wearing a stylish £248 double-breasted jumpsuit. The cycling star added that her 'outfit and shoes' were from Reiss.
Over the following week as a BBC commentator, the cycling star showed off her dazzling wardrobe. On one social media post she was sitting on the presenting sofa with fellow cyclist Sir Chris Hoy wearing a £298 powder blue double-breasted blazer, with the message: 'I've had to pinch footage from BBC Sport because my full length outfit photo doesn't show just how beautiful the colour of this suit is.' Laura poses with her Gold medal after her victory in the Women's Omnium on August 16, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro Laura Kenny celebrates winning a gold medal during the Women's Madison final of the track cycling on day fourteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games In another post captioned 'Same dress, different lighting', Dame Laura wore a £228 yellow sleeveless midi dress.
For the closing ceremony in the French capital, the cycling star celebrated and opted for a £228 vibrant pink halterneck dress. The Corporation's highest paid presenter Gary Lineker, who earns £1.35million a year at the BBC, was rebuked in June, after he appeared to be wearing outfits from his own fashion range.
The BBC was contacted for comment over Dame Laura's posts. Laura Trott Share or comment on this article: BBC bosses 'have spoken to' Dame Laura Kenny after Olympic cycling legend accused of promoting luxury clothing brands while presenting in Paris e-mail Add comment.
