Ex-Ireland international Neil Francis sacked from punditry role for saying Lions fly-half Marcus Smith has ‘Oompa-Loompa tan’
Former Ireland forward Neil Francis has been sacked by Independent.ie following controversial comments he made about Lions and Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith.
The Ireland international Francis was speaking on the Irish publication's Left Wing podcast when he made the remark about Smith, who is of mixed British and Filipino heritage and was born in Manila.
"A Harlequins out-half with a David Beckham haircut and an Oompa Loompa tan...you just couldn't throw him in," said Francis, who won 36 caps for Ireland from 1987-1996.
While he comment has since been edited out of the podcast, the original quotes and audio have both been widely shared on social media.
A spokesperson for Mediahuis Ireland, publisher of Independent.ie, said: "Neil Francis's remarks were unacceptable and he has apologised for them. The comments were initially released in the podcast last week but were subsequently removed by our production team a short time later. This should have happened before it was released and we apologise for the error.
"We acknowledge that Mr Francis says his comments were inadvertent but we have decided to end our relationship with him and he will no longer write columns or contribute to our podcasts."
Quins earlier said in a statement: "Harlequins is disgusted by racist comments made by Independent.ie columnist Neil Francis on the paper's rugby podcast, The Left Wing, about Harlequins, England and British and Irish Lions fly-half Marcus Smith on July 14.
"The club firmly believes that there is no room for racism in any part of society, let alone professional sport."
Former Quins star Ugo Monye, a former Lions and England wing, hit back at Francis on social media.
"The fact Neil Francis said what he did is appalling, but to publish it & no one challenge him is as equally appalling," Monye tweeted.