Here’s a reminder to make sure you inspect handout photos for any, um, irregularities.
UK listings publication Radio Times issued an apology after it accidentally published a photo of a group of Royal Marines that showed one man’s penis. The story was about a documentary airing on Channel 5, and the photo was provided by that organization’s PR department.
A censored version of the photo, via the Radio Times website, is below. From the apology:
It has come to our attention that an apparently innocent photo of the Royal Marines’ 42 Commando unit – printed by Radio Times in good faith and issued by Channel 5’s publicity department to promote the documentary Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan – contains the sight of one of the marines playing a prank.
“I know that British soldiers serving in Afghanistan are well equipped, but seeing the roll call of Royal Marines gives the expression a whole new meaning,” wrote one reader in a letter to RT this morning.
The unnamed marine is, like the rest of his unit, posing for the photograph dressed only in shorts. What we took to be the marine’s finger proved, on closer inspection, to be another part of his anatomy …
“We apologise for any upset caused to readers by the rogue member of 42 Commando,” said Radio Times editor Ben Preston.
Hard to say for sure if the editor intended the double entendre of “rogue member,” but it certainly proved popular with headline writers.
The photo:
Speaking of headlines, as one might expect, the mistake resulted in many pun-tastic offerings. (I tried to come up with a slightly different take for my own.) A sampling:
- Radio Times apologise for ‘rogue member’ in Marine picture
- Spotted: One Royal Marine going commando in publicity shot
- Privates on parade in Radio Times
- Now that’s REALLY going Commando! Radio Times forced to apologise after printing image of soldier’s privates
Can you do any better? Share them in the comments.
Thanks to Valerie Howes for sending along the link!
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