The BBC has backtracked after the Radio 4 Twitter account ‘liked’ a tweet that described the recently-unveiled Princess Diana statue as ‘hideous’.
Despite several high-profile critics – including Piers Morgan as well as Lorraine Kelly – who have passed judgement on the anticipated monument, the Beeb has said the social media slip-up was an ‘accident’.
Yesterday Diana’s sons, Princes Willam and Harry, were on hand to show the statue off to the world in celebration of what would have been the royal’s 60th birthday on Thursday.
As many reacted to the tribute, which featured the late princess alongside three children, the account for Radio 4 ‘liked’ a comment from documentary producer Neil Crombie.
It featured a picture of the bronze image of the Princess of Wales with the caption: ‘I’m sorry but this is hideous.’
Radio 4’s Twitter account soon ‘unliked’ the tweet with the broadcaster backtracking on the move.
A BBC spokesperson told the Daily Mail, it was ‘an accident’ and stressed it has since deleted the like.
‘This was an accident and shouldn’t have been liked,’ a statement said. ‘It’s now been deleted.’
Last year head of BBC Tim Davie introduced new social media rules around impartiality and insisted they would be ‘rigorously enforced’.
On Thursday July 1, the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex were reunited to unveil a statue of Diana in the remodelled Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace, with the monument created by sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley.
However, several have reacted to the memorial with a critical eye, as Lorraine today shared she isn’t fond of the statue’s design,
After saying that she thought there were ‘lovely sentiments’ behind the sculpture, Lorraine said: ‘Can I just say, I don’t really like it.’