Footballers' union demands 'offensive' Reg D Hunter refund his fee

The Professional Footballers’ Association is demanding a full refund of the fee they paid Reginald D Hunter to perform at their annual dinner, after he offended guests.

Lawyers have been called in to try to recover the fee – said to be a ‘five-figure sum’ – that the players’ union paid.

The body is claiming he effectively breached a verbal contract over the contents of his routine at Sunday night’s awards bash through repeated use of the N-word and other contentious jokes.

In a statement, the PFA said that Hunter had been warned about the use of language or ‘racist references’

They said: ‘He was booked on the basis of his recent television appearances, however clearly his performance last night was of a very different nature,

‘Whilst we are not generally made aware of the material a comedian intends on doing, it is clear that the language used was unacceptable.

‘In a conference call with Reginald and three members of The London Speakers Bureau, through which he was recruited, it was outlined the makeup of our audience which would be widely diverse including around 25 per cent of women and ages ranging from 18 to 80.

‘It was made absolutely clear that swearing or any racist references were to be avoided. Therefore we were totally dismayed that the performance was the exact opposite of our requirement.’

Even the London Speaker Bureau sided with the PFA, increasing the pressure on Hunter over his fee.

They said: ‘The London Speaker Bureau supports the PFA's statement in that Reginald's use of language was not what was discussed as acceptable on the briefing call with the PFA. We regret any offence caused .’

PFA deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Whatever he was paid was too much.’

He added: We are obviously very upset, because he was briefed. It was as if he set out to upset everyone in the room one way or another. There were anti-Jewish jokes, there were anti-women jokes, there were anti-Irish jokes, there was the repeat use of the ‘n’ word. If you were looking for a scenario of absolutely everything we wouldn’t want on the night, I think you had a montage there.

‘It was totally unacceptable on every level.’

Moves to recover the fee come despite PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle previously saying he was not ‘lambasting’ Hunter himself, but admitting they had made a ‘gross error of judgment’ in booking him.

Meanwhile, Hunter has made light of the controversy, describing the PFA gig as ‘irony’s annual night off’ in a post on Twitter. He also uploaded a series of photographs on Facebook, showing him posing with dozens of smiling guests, titling the album, tongue-in-cheek: ‘The PFA Awards: the awful aftermath.’

His publicist also put out a press release yesterday promoting Hunter’s autumn tour dates.

Published: 1 May 2013