Barbara Windsor has apologised for swearing on live TV after telling a Sky journalist that anyone who didn’t want to wear a poppy could “sod off”.
Windsor was launching this year’s appeal run by the British Legion, which will see thousands of servicemen and women across the country selling poppies to try and raise more than £1m for the Armed Forces.
But Windsor let her true feelings be known when she was asked what she had to say to anyone who refused to wear a poppy, saying “They can sod off for all I care.”
The journalist in the studio quickly issued an apology, but Windsor, who didn’t realise she was on air, tried to explain herself.
“Well it’s not really [swearing], because, you know, ‘sod’ is dirt, isn’t it. It’s the earth,” she mused.
She later agreed with the reporter’s suggestion that what she really meant was ‘throwing dirt’ at people who disagreed with poppies.
“Yes, yes, that’s it,” she said, nodding.
